Little Sister
by RoslinRaydor82
Summary: A baby is discovered at a crime scene where both parents were killed, and they have no other family willing to take the baby, so Sharon takes her in.
1. Chapter 1

_Set between the first and second seasons._

Sharon pried her eyes open when she heard her phone ringing late Friday night. For most parents, a ringing telephone in the middle of the night was cause for alarm, but Sharon knew the most likely cause was that her team had caught a case. Usually, Lt. Provenza was capable of leading the initial investigation and would fill her in the next morning, but occasionally there were circumstances that required her presence.

"Captain Raydor," Sharon mumbled, yawning and trying to clear her head.

"Hello, Captain, sorry to wake you. We caught a murder, and, well...We need you."

"Text me the address. Be there as soon as I can."

Sharon put on just enough makeup to avoid frightening anyone, brushed her hair out, and changed into jeans and a sweater. She quickly left a note for Rusty and left. Upon arriving at a mansion in one of the ritziest neighborhoods in LA, she got out of her car and went into the house in search of her team. She was surprised to find Tao uncomfortably holding a screaming baby, looking relieved to see Sharon, and Provenza looking over some notes, trying to ignore the baby.

Sharon momentarily forgot that her role at the crime scene was that of a LAPD Captain rather than a mother. Her maternal instincts kicked in and she took the baby, who seemed to be four or five months old, from Tao. She held her close and bounced gently, talking softly to the baby and stroking her hair, which was a pale blonde fuzz. The baby's sobs died down almost immediately and Sharon realized her diaper was wet. Spotting a changing table in the corner of the living room, she quickly changed the baby and zipped her fuzzy pajamas back up, but didn't replace the sack-like garment the baby had been zipped into just yet. What even was that thing? Baby necessities had changed a lot since Sharon's children were babies. She resumed bouncing the baby and patting her back until her eyes began to close. Once the baby was sleeping comfortably on Sharon's shoulder, she suddenly remembered her purpose for being at the crime scene and realized for the first time that the rest of the team was missing.

"Oh! What's going on? And where is everyone else? Where are the bodies?"

"Standard case of husband comes home, catches wife with boyfriend, turns gun on the tramp and her side dish and then himself. A neighbor heard the gunshots and called 911. We finished processing the scene, so I sent everyone home to get some rest. Except for Tao, who lost a round of 'not it' to hold the baby until you got here."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "My presence was required to call DCFS?"

Provenza looked embarrassed. "Oh. Right. Of course. I actually meant to do that. I was trying to decide whether I needed to notify you that a baby was found at the crime scene when I realized that you had a couple of these things of your own, and could probably get here faster than DCFS, so I called you. I figured you could deal with this thing until someone from DCFS could get here, but I completely forgot to call them after I hung up with you."

"You had a couple of 'these things' of your own, lieutenant."

"Yes, but I also had a wife for when they were screaming. As did Tao."

"Unlike you, my babies actually liked me. Other people's babies are a different story, though," Tao clarified. "I'll call DCFS," he said, reaching for his phone.

Sharon looked down at the adorable baby sleeping peacefully in her arms. She couldn't bear to have the baby juggled from her to an emergency foster assignment and again to a relative once the parents' families were discovered. Something Cynthia had told her during the Daniel Dunn drama with Rusty played in her head. _Foster care is, by definition, temporary._ Well, in this case, that was going to be of good use to her. It would be fun to have a baby around for a while until the parents' will (hopefully) and family were tracked down.

"Actually, I'm still licensed for emergency foster care. I'll call Cynthia to make sure I can take her until we figure out who will gain custody of her, but I don't think it will be a problem." When Sharon hung up with Cynthia, Provenza and Tao were recounting how the baby was discovered and laughing.

"Once I saw the changing table and realized there was probably a baby in the house and remembered that Flynn was the one I sent to look around upstairs, I couldn't get up those steps fast enough. I got there just in time to hear him scream like a little girl. Of course, by the time I got to him, the baby was also screaming," Provenza said. "And there was a little machine blaring white noise loud enough to wake the dead. The baby probably slept right through three gun shots."

"And then he came down the stairs holding the baby away from him like it was a bomb," Tao said, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

"I hate I missed that," Sharon said, laughing. "I have to wait for Cynthia to check out the baby and write a report, but you guys should go home and get some rest. Were you guys able to find any information on family members to notify?"

"No," Tao said. "The baby's parents would be each other's next of kin, so we don't have a time frame in which notifications have to be made. We'll come back in the morning for a more thorough search. And what about a car seat? And formula?" Tao pointed out. Sharon had figured she could send Rusty out first thing in the morning for formula and a few bottles, but she probably wouldn't have thought about a car seat until she got to her car with the baby and had nowhere to put her.

"Oh! Um..."

"Both vehicles are in the garage. Surely there's a car seat. I don't think anyone would have a problem with you borrowing the car seat until the baby is placed with a family member. Same with a bottle and formula. Take the bottles and formula," Provenza suggested. "These things are necessary for taking care of the baby and it's permissible to remove them from the crime scene," he continued, keeping Sharon's love of the rules in mind. (A/N: I have no idea if this is true, but I didn't want to get bogged down in the 'getting the baby from the crime scene to Sharon's apartment' details).

"I'll go check the cars. The car seat probably has a base, and I'm trained in installing them properly, so I'll put it in your car," Tao spoke up.

Sharon looked confused. "A what? And my keys are on the table beside the front door."

"I'll show you before you leave. I'll need to show you how to move the seat in and out of it, anyway."

An hour later, Cynthia's report was done and Sharon was home with the baby. A pack and play had been set up in the living room, presumably for when the baby took naps downstairs, so Cynthia had suggested that Sharon take that for Harper to sleep in, as well as some extra clothes, diapers, and baby wipes for the next few days. Sharon had found a document from a pediatrician's office with the baby's name on it in the kitchen. She set up the pack and play in her bedroom, zipped Harper back into the sack thing she had been wearing before, and gently lay her down. She stirred, but got comfortable and was soon sleeping again. Sharon was more than happy to get back in bed. Her team would work on finding family members or friends and confirming that no one else had been involved in the murder the next day and had promised to only call her if they had any problems or had new information.

Sharon woke at 7:30 on Saturday morning, alarmed at first when it was a baby's cries that woke her up. She thought she was dreaming before she remembered the events of the night before. She got out of bed and gently lifted Harper out of the pack and play and held her to her shoulder, gently patting her back.

"It's all right, honey," she soothed. "It's scary waking up in a strange place, isn't it? I bet you're ready for some breakfast." Sharon changed Harper's diaper and carried her into the kitchen to get a bottle. Once the bottle was empty, Sharon dug through the diaper bag she had found at the crime scene the night before and found a few toys. After spreading a blanket on the floor and setting the toys out, she lay Harper on the blanket with the toys. Sharon poured a cup of coffee and turned the TV on while Harper happily kicked her feet and grabbed at her toys.

Rusty stumbled into the living room at 9:30, stunned to see Sharon still in her nightgown with no makeup on. "You're up early," Sharon commented.

"Yeah, I could have sworn I heard a baby crying this morning. I kept trying to go back to sleep, but-whoa! Where did that baby come from?"

"I got called to a crime scene last night. Both parents died and we couldn't find any information on family members or a will, and I'm still licensed for emergency foster care, so I decided to bring Harper home for a couple of days until we know who is going to take her."

"Cool...Can I hold her?"

Sharon looked at Rusty in surprise. This wasn't the reaction she was expecting. She had actually been dreading Rusty waking up and seeing the baby all morning. "Sure. Actually, would you mind keeping an eye on her while I change clothes?"

"Yeah, go ahead." When Sharon returned to the living room, with makeup on and dressed in jeans, a tank top, and a cardigan, Rusty was leaning against the couch with Harper lying on his knees, laughing hysterically as he made faces and silly noises at her. The baby wipes and a rolled-up diaper were on the floor beside him.

"You changed her?" Sharon asked, her surprise growing, as she picked up the diaper and tossed it in the garbage.

"Yeah. I was going to throw that away when I got up. For such a tiny baby, she sure can drop a load. But we got all cleaned up, didn't we?" Rusty said cheerfully, turning his attention back to Harper. "Aww, is someone s'eepy?" He cooed, when Harper started whimpering and her big blue eyes started looking heavy. Sharon went to take Harper from Rusty, but he stood up, turned her on her side, and gently swayed as she snuggled into his arm. A couple of minutes later, he sat on the couch and looked down at her as she slept in his arms. He looked up and caught the look of bewilderment on Sharon's face. "What?"

"I am clearly missing something. How are you so good with babies?"

"My mom and I lived with one of her friends for a while when I was in middle school, and she had a baby about this age. She and my mom both drank and did drugs all the time, so I pretty much took care of the baby. I had to break into their drug money while they were passed out to buy diapers and formula. I had no idea what to do at first, so I used a computer at school to look up how to take care of a baby for the basic stuff, but I learned how to keep him happy. DCFS ended up taking him after Mom and I moved in with Gary, but I haven't thought about that kid in a long time. I hope he's okay."

"That was very sweet of you. There's a portable crib in my room when you're ready to put her down."

"Thanks. I want to hold her for a few minutes, if you don't mind."

"That's fine with me. We can spoil her all we want to, since we won't have her for very long."

As if on cue, Sharon's phone rang. "Lt. Provenza. Any news?"

"Yes. We found an attorney's card at the crime scene, so we called the attorney at his home, hoping he had a will for the baby's parents on file. He did, and Harper's custody was left to the husband's sister." Sharon sighed in disappointment. She knew this was going to happen, and she didn't want to keep Harper for longer than a few days, anyway. Did she? No, probably not. But she was hoping for at least a couple of days with her, as she had stolen Sharon's heart immediately.

"Okay. So when is she coming for Harper? I can keep her for a couple of days if she needs to make arrangements."

"She doesn't want Harper. Apparently, she wasn't on speaking terms with the parents and has her own children, and she doesn't even care to see the baby. She said that neither parent had any other family, but we're working to confirm that. It makes sense, though, since the parents left the baby to someone with whom they hadn't spoken in several years. You should probably speak with Cynthia about finding a permanent placement."

"Not just yet. I'll wait and see if any more family members turn up." They said goodbye and hung up.

"Will Harper have to go to foster care?" Rusty asked, his eyes wide.

"I hope not, but the only family member we've been able to find, and whom was granted custody in the event of both parents' death, doesn't want her."

"Oh." Rusty looked sadly down at Harper and stroked her hair as she slept.

The wheels in Sharon's head were turning. "Rusty...If it were up to you, what would you do if we didn't find any other relatives for Harper?"

"Keep her," Rusty said quickly. "I know you're too busy for that, though. And it takes, like, money and crap to take care of a baby."

"I actually think I agree with you on keeping her. So, if we don't find any other family, it's okay with you if I have her permanently placed with me?"

"Definitely."

"All right. I'll call Cynthia and update her."


	2. Chapter 2

Sharon woke on Saturday morning, a week later, when she heard Harper stirring in her crib. The rest of the nursery furniture was in storage until Sharon could find a bigger condo. She lay in bed, trying to force herself to get up. She hadn't worked terribly long hours that week, but getting accustomed to having a baby to take care of had taken its toll on her. Her team had spoken to Harper's parents' attorney and to everyone at their funeral, and it was clear that there was no one connected to the Bennetts who was willing to take custody of her. When Sharon heard Rusty creep in and pick up Harper, she could have cried with relief, but she felt a little guilty.

"Go back to bed, Rusty, I'm getting up."

"No, you can go back to sleep. You looked exhausted last night."

"I owe you big time," Sharon murmured, closing her eyes again. She smiled as she heard Rusty talking to Harper.

"Morning, Harps! Ready for a bottle?" Rusty lifted Harper from her crib and carried her into the living room to change her diaper before feeding her. Sharon woke up a couple of hours later, feeling much more refreshed. She got dressed for the day and went into the living room at 8:30. Rusty was rocking a sniffling Harper, patting her back and speaking softly to her, in the recliner that Sharon had gotten from her storage unit. There was a rocking chair in Harper's nursery, that was now in Sharon's room, but she wanted to be able to rock her in the living room, as well. Harper was lying restlessly against Rusty's shoulder and obviously wasn't too happy.

"What's wrong?" Sharon asked, growing concerned.

"She's been crabby all morning. This is the happiest I've been able to get her. She's about ready for a nap, though."

Sharon walked over to them and took a closer look. "Hmm, she looks a little flushed."

"Yeah, she feels warm, too. Warmer than normal, anyway. I think."

Sharon felt Harper's forehead, sighing softly when she felt a little fever. "Yes, she has a fever. It's not too high, though. You should have woken me, honey."

"Oh, I was going to in a few minutes if you didn't get up. I didn't notice she felt warm until about thirty minutes ago, so I gave her some Motrin, and I thought you would probably be up soon, anyway. I mean, I could have figured out what to do after that, but I knew you would know."

Sharon studied Harper intently. "She doesn't sound congested or anything..."

"I know. She's soaked both of my shoulders from drooling, so I thought she might be teething. That can cause a fever, right? But she seems a little young for that. Exactly how old is she, again?"

"She'll be five months old next week. She was born August 18th. And Emily was almost a year old before she cut her first tooth, but Ricky was barely four months old, so there's a wide range for teething to begin. I remember being afraid that Emily wasn't going to have any teeth at all! They never had any problems with it, but it can cause a low fever." Sharon took Harper from Rusty and kissed her forehead. "You're not feeling too good, baby girl?" Harper whimpered as she was being taken from Rusty, but she settled comfortably on Sharon's shoulder. Sharon slipped her finger into Harper's mouth and gently felt along her bottom gums. "Yes, she does have a tooth coming in. Is that mean old tooth hurting my baby?"

"Why does teething cause a fever?"

"I don't know. It makes her gums hurt and inflamed, so maybe some babies' bodies think that a new tooth is a form of infection? I have no idea. Emily nor Ricky ever had a fever from teething, so I never really thought about it."

Rusty looked at the innocent baby, with tears of pain still in her eyes, lying on Sharon's shoulder. "Oh, my god, Sharon, when she asks for a pony, please get her one."

Sharon laughed. "You'll change your tune when she's a sassy, screaming, banshee of a toddler. Do you remember where I put her thermometer? I set it aside somewhere. She has been in daycare for a week, so I need to keep an eye on her temperature. She could have picked up something there and just happen to be teething at the same time."

"Yeah, I put it in the medicine cabinet." Rusty walked into the kitchen and returned with the thermometer in his hands. "This must be her first fever, it hasn't even been opened." He opened the thermometer and handed it to Sharon. "I'll, um, let you take care of that," he muttered, looking nervous.

Sharon laughed. "Rusty! It goes in her ear!"

Rusty blushed and took Harper from Sharon. "Well...I probably won't do it right." Still chuckling, Sharon turned the thermometer on and gently placed it in Harper's ear.

"100.3. As long as it stays under 101 and is gone by Monday, it's probably just teething." Rusty looked relieved, then mildly disgusted as he felt a sensation which he knew meant that Harper was filling her diaper.

"Ugh, Harper, why am I always holding you when you do that?" Rusty grumbled when she was finished. He started toward the changing table.

"I'll change her, Rusty."

"Nah, it's okay. I just like giving her a hard time. Come on, stinkpot, let's change your shitty drawers."

"Rusty!" Sharon tried to scold him, but she was laughing too hard to get any further in her reprimand.

"What? It's not like she knows what I'm saying."

"True, but you should make a point not to say things like that in front of her. Before we turn around, she'll be big enough to not only understand what you're saying, but to repeat it. And probably at the worst time possible, like the children's sermon at church," Sharon said, remembering the time Emily had announced to the whole congregation that her mommy had called her daddy a worthless asshole, and her daddy had called her mommy a frigid bitch. The priest had picked the worst Sunday possible to talk to the children about the importance of being kind and not calling people names.

Rusty handed Harper back to Sharon after getting her cleaned up and in a fresh diaper. "That's a story I want to hear later. I'm going to go back to sleep for a little bit, but I'll help you finish going through her stuff while she's taking a nap. Why don't you try to keep her up until 9:30 and feed her first? Maybe she'll sleep a little longer, since she won't wake up hungry."

"Honey, you don't have to do that. And you didn't have to get up with her this morning either, although I really appreciated it. But, she's my responsibility, not yours. I don't expect you to take care of her for me."

"You didn't have to miss a week of work to take care of me when I had the flu a couple of months ago, either. But, you care about me, and I care about you. And Harper. I want to help you."

" All right...But please only do what you really want to do. Don't do anything for Harper because you feel like you have to, or like I expect you to."

"I won't." Rusty went back to sleep for about an hour before getting back up to help Sharon sort through the rest of Harper's things from her parents' house. They sat in the living room, surrounded by boxes, as Harper napped in her crib in Sharon's room.

"I spoke to the people in the leasing office of this building yesterday, and there's a three-bedroom condo that will be available in a couple of weeks. We can walk through a model of it on Monday."

"We're moving? But won't that be a lot more expensive?"

"Harper can only share a bedroom with me until she's two. She needs her own space before then, anyway. And, we just need more room, in general."

"Yeah, but I'll be eighteen by the time she's two."

"But you will be a freshman in college, and you may decide to live at home instead of the dorm, if you go to college in LA. And, even if you don't, you better visit enough to still need your own room." Sharon could see the wheels in Rusty's head turning. She worried that he thought things would be easier for her if he didn't live with her. "Honey, some of the money from the Bennetts' estate will cover the difference in cost, since Harper is the reason we're moving, and I'm selling the house. Even if I did have to pay more from my own money for a bigger condo, it's worth it."

"How were those people so rich, anyway? They couldn't have been that old."

"They were in their mid-thirties, and Harper's father invented some multi-million dollar app. Harper's mom was the only child of wealthy parents, so when they died, she inherited a fortune. They paid cash for that three-million-dollar house."

"Good lord."

"I know. Money from their estate will cover Harper's education, clothes, food, and all of that, but she'll still have a good bit left over once she's grown up and on her own." Rusty looked less worried, and they continued sifting through Harper's mountain of belongings until she woke up almost an hour later. Rusty jumped up to get her when they heard her whimpering. Sharon listened as Rusty entered her room and picked up Harper. "What's wrong? You usually wake up a little happier than this. You still don't feel good?" Sharon realized that Rusty was right. Harper had woken up crying for the first couple of days, but had stopped once she got used to being in Sharon's condo.

"Sharon? Does she feel warmer to you?" Rusty asked, walking into the living room with a clearly unhappy Harper in his arms. Sharon kissed her warm forehead, lingering for a moment to gauge her temperature.

"Maybe a little, but I think her fever is still pretty low. I'll check her temperature again in a couple of hours."

"Are you sure?" Rusty looked worried.

"Yes, honey. Don't worry, she'll be all right."

By Sunday night, Harper seemed to be herself again. Sharon and Rusty had spent most of Saturday and Sunday taking turns holding Harper and going through her belongings. Most of it was going back in the boxes since they were moving soon, but there were things that they needed before then. Sharon had found the sound machine Provenza had mentioned the night of the murder, and she hoped it would help Harper sleep through the night. She had been waking up and crying for at least ten minutes a couple of times a night before going back to sleep. Sharon would have gotten her up if she had cried much longer than that, but she always went back to sleep on her own.

"All right, sweet girl, let's get you bathed and into bed," Sharon said, lifting Harper from her bouncy seat.

"Can I put her to bed?"

"Not tonight, honey. You need to finish your homework, and I'm going to try to figure out a bedtime routine for Harper, since we found her books and sound machine today. I know she goes to sleep pretty easily in our arms, but I want her to learn to put herself to sleep. A routine will help with that, and hopefully with the screaming she's been doing in the middle of the night."

"I'll do anything to help with that."

Sharon passed Harper to Rusty. "You can give her a bottle while I get her bath ready." Sharon fixed a bottle and gave it to Rusty and prepared a medicine dropper with Motrin to give Harper before she went to sleep.

"I thought her fever was almost gone?"

"It is, but her gums are probably still a little sore, and even a slight fever will make her uncomfortable. I'm going to give this to her before bed, just in case." Sharon went to the bathroom and ran the bathwater while she set a diaper and pajamas on her bed and got a towel and washcloth from Harper's collection of stuff in her room. After checking the water temperature, she sat on the edge of the tub and let the water run for a few more minutes before putting Harper's bath seat in and going to get her from Rusty.

"SHARON! Oh, my god, Sharon! Get in here!" Alarmed, Sharon sprinted down the hall to the living room, where she had left Rusty giving Harper her bottle. "Honey! What's the-honestly, Rusty, it's a little spit-up," she said, relieved to find that the problem was merely a white substance on his neck and shoulder, rather than a choking baby, or something worse.

"But it smells awful! And, it's, like, _warm_ ," Rusty said, turning away from Harper and gagging. Harper was laughing and looking pleased with herself, and Sharon was laughing so hard she couldn't move. "Sharon! If you don't get this off of me, you're going to have two messes to clean up, and I'm not even kidding." Seeing that Rusty was starting to look a little green, Sharon wet a dishcloth and wiped the offending substance off of his neck and t-shirt before taking Harper from him. He jumped up and tore his t-shirt off as fast as he could.

"Rusty, honestly. You can change the nastiest of diapers without flinching, but a little spit-up grosses you out?"

"I know, I know, it doesn't make sense. Night, Harps," Rusty said, kissing her cheek and scratching her back. "Good luck with that routine. I hate to break it to you, but she's just getting warmed up with the rules." He ducked out of the way before Sharon could swat at him.

Once Harper was bathed and in her pajamas and sleep sack, Sharon decided to give her the Motrin before reading to her and putting her down for the night. She held the dropper to Harper's mouth, but she turned away and clamped her lips shut. "Come on, Harp, it will make you feel better," Sharon pleaded. A few more attempts and a face full of spit-out Motrin later, Sharon appealed to Rusty.

"Rusty! Will you please bring me the Motrin, and see if you can get Harper to take it?" Rusty appeared a moment later with the Motrin and refilled the dropper.

"Are you giving Mommy a hard time?" Rusty cooed, tickling her and making a face. Once she was laughing, he sneaked the dropper into her mouth and watched as she swallowed it before she realized what she was doing. "See? Not so bad, is it?" Rusty took the Motrin and medicine dropper and returned to the kitchen, leaving a stunned Sharon. She hadn't referred to herself as anything to Harper, because she didn't know how Harper calling her 'Mom' would affect Rusty. It would be perfectly fine with her for Rusty to call her 'Mom,' too, but she could tell he still missed his own mother, and she didn't want him to think she was trying to take his mother's place, or pretend that she didn't exist. She knew she would have to tackle the problem within the next few months, because Harper would be able to say 'ma-ma' soon, and it felt weird not referring to herself as 'Mommy,' anyway. Rusty had solved that problem for her pretty easily, though.

Sharon sat with Harper in the rocking chair in her bedroom and read two books, turned her sound machine on, sang two verses of 'Jesus Loves Me,' and rocked her to sleep. At first, she thought her song choice was a little cliche, but soon realized that there was something spiritually fulfilling about singing that song while rocking a baby. Her original plan had been to put Harper down while she was still awake after singing to her, but she decided to rock her to sleep for the first couple of weeks to help her body make the connection between the bedtime routine and sleep. Once Harper was sleeping, Sharon kissed her forehead and laid her in her crib, patted her stomach a couple of times, and left the room.

Sharon found Rusty at the dining room table, finishing up his homework. He looked up when she came in. "I'm sorry, Sharon, I just assumed Harper would be calling you 'Mom' at some point. I haven't heard you actually call yourself anything in front of her, and it just slipped out."

"No, honey, I'm glad you did that. I had been debating about it for a while. I do want her to call me 'Mom,' but I hesitated, because...I didn't want you to think that it was okay for her to call me that, but not for you. You certainly can, if you ever decide you want to, but-"

"Sharon, that is so different. You're going to be the only mother she knows."

"I know...I just, I don't know. I'm glad you cleared that up for me, though."

"Do you think she, like, misses her parents?"

"I don't know. If she were to see them, I'm sure she would recognize them and want to be with them, and she is obviously aware that she lives with different people now, but I don't know if she actually misses them or expects them to come back."

Rusty nodded thoughtfully as he packed his book bag. "I'm going to watch TV for a while before I go to bed."

"Save me a seat. I'll be right there." Sharon poured herself a glass of wine and got a blanket for them to share before joining her son on the couch.


	3. Chapter 3

_Five weeks later_

Sharon left work early on a Friday afternoon to take Harper to her six-month check-up with her pediatrician. She had found an appointment card among some papers from the Bennetts' house, otherwise she probably wouldn't have thought to contact the pediatrician's office to see if Harper had any scheduled appointments. Once the nurse had stripped Harper down to just her diaper, weighed her, and taken some measurements, Sharon held her in her lap, thinking about how to explain to the doctor how she had gained custody of Harper. A few minutes later, a young, brunette woman who seemed to be in her thirties came in the room.

"Hi, I'm Elizabeth Walker," the doctor greeted, holding her hand out to Sharon. "You must be Harper's new guardian," she said as they shook hands.

"Yes, I am," Sharon said, glad that Dr. Walker seemed to at least have an idea of what had happened to the Bennetts.

"Hey, there, miss Harper, you are just growing like a little weed!" The doctor said brightly, lightly tickling her. She gently took Harper from Sharon and placed her on the exam table. After examining her and asking questions about teething, eating and sleeping habits, and other things, she handed Harper back to Sharon.

"How did you know the Bennetts? Annie and I were starting to become friends, and we met for lunch a few times, so I'm just curious. If you don't mind."

"Not at all. I actually didn't know them. I'm a Captain with the LAPD, and my division investigated their deaths. I was already licensed for emergency foster care, so when we discovered Harper at the crime scene, I decided to keep her until we found out who was going to take custody of her. Wesley's sister was granted custody in the will, but she didn't want custody, and we couldn't find any other family members, so I decided to have her permanently placed with me."

"That was very nice of you. Do you have any other children? I'm sorry, I'm just really curious. Please tell me to stop at any time."

"No, I don't mind at all. I have a son and a daughter, both in their late twenties, and a sixteen-year-old foster son, which is why I'm licensed for foster care. He just kind of fell into my lap through my job, but I fell in love with him instantly, just like I did with Harper. Being a foster parent was never even on my radar, but I haven't regretted it."

"So, this isn't your first experience with a baby. That's good."

"No, it's not. I can tell from Harper's belongings that a lot has changed since my children were babies, but I still know the basics. And my foster son is just a natural with babies. Harper loves him, and he's been a big help."

"That's great. Have you, um, heard from Wesley's sister at all?"

"No. I think DCFS contacted her after the Bennetts' deaths, and one of my lieutenants informed me that she didn't want custody."

"The reason I'm asking is that Annie seemed to think she was mentally unstable. She's divorced, and a couple of months ago, she was on the verge of losing any visitation rights at all with her children. Annie wanted to change their will, but Wesley was in denial about it."

"Do you know why they gave her custody to begin with? From what I understand, the Bennetts weren't on speaking terms with Wesley's sister."

Dr. Walker shrugged. "They didn't have any other family, and maybe they hoped to reconcile with her at some point. They didn't seem to have many friends, either. Wesley seemed to be a little controlling in that respect. I remember Annie having to lie about where she was the few times we met for lunch. They probably didn't think it would ever be an issue. The Bennetts' marriage obviously went very sour, very fast."

"I can't imagine leaving this adorable little one behind," Sharon said, holding Harper close to her.

"I know. I have another appointment, but feel free to call me if you have any questions. The nurse is going to come back in and give Harper her shots. A fever and irritability are common, but if that lasts longer than a couple of days, or if her temperature is over 102 and doesn't respond to medicine, bring her back in. And I will see you again when you're a big nine-month-old!" Dr. Walker said to Harper.

Sharon thanked the doctor, and the nurse came in a minute later. Sharon sat Harper on the exam table and placed her hand on her back, but turned her head away. She had never been able to watch her children get shots. Naturally, Harper started screaming after the first shot, but they were soon over. Sharon quickly dressed her and held her close, hoping to calm her down before leaving the doctor's office.

"It's all right, darling," Sharon soothed, gently bouncing Harper and rubbing her back as she whimpered into her shoulder. When Harper calmed down a few minutes later, Sharon stopped at the front desk to check out and to make an appointment for Harper's nine-month-old wellness visit.

Sharon carried Harper into their new apartment at 4:00. They had been there for two weeks and finally had everything unpacked. Sharon set up the pack and play in the kitchen and put Harper in it with a few toys so she could cook dinner. Harper had just started sitting up by herself, so keeping her entertained was much easier. She was just starting to get fussy when Rusty came in.

"Hi, honey, how was school?" Sharon asked, as she brushed his hair out of his eyes. "You need another haircut."

"Why do you ask that every day? It's always fine. And I just got a haircut," Rusty grumbled.

"Harper's already beaten you out for the 'crankiest child' honor today...Nice effort, though."

"Sorry...I stayed after school to ask my English teacher about my paper, and I was totally on the wrong track. I basically have to start over. Even Buzz was stumped, which is why I had to ask my teacher for help in the first place."

"When is it due?"

"Wednesday, and I'll never get it-ooh, are you cooking that pasta with the chicken and mushrooms?" Sharon nodded. "Awesome." Rusty lifted a whimpering Harper from the pack and play. "And just what is your problem today?"

"She had to get shots at her doctor's appointment this afternoon. And you can work on your paper tomorrow and Sunday, and I'll take a look at it Sunday night. We'll figure it out."

"Thanks, Sharon." Rusty carried Harper into the living room and sat in the recliner. She rubbed her eyes and snuggled into his shoulder.

"Are you sleepy?" Rusty asked in surprise.

"Oh, Rusty, she'll probably take another nap. I'm not used to being at home with her this early during the week."

Rusty looked at his watch. "Yeah, you're right. I didn't realize it was this early, either." He settled Harper in the crook of his arm and rocked her until she was sleeping soundly against him, happy that the 'bedtime routine' didn't apply to naps. He loved rocking her to sleep. He laid her in her crib in the nursery, got the monitor from Sharon's room, and went back to the kitchen and sat in a bar stool. "Need some help?"

"No, thanks, it's almost ready to cook." Sharon finished preparing the ingredients and put them in the refrigerator to cook later, then poured a glass of wine for herself and a glass of Coke for Rusty. "Is something on your mind?" She asked, brushing Rusty's bangs away from his face again. Rusty's first instinct was to turn away, but he actually liked it when Sharon did things like that. In a weird way, it made him feel cared for.

"Actually, yes. Um...Are you, like, going to adopt Harper?"

Sharon paused. The question didn't surprise her, but she didn't know how to answer. Of course, it was on her mind, but so was adopting Rusty. Adopting Rusty was going to be so much more complicated, though, and she didn't want to adopt Harper without adopting Rusty. Her plan was to wait until Rusty was 18, when she could do it without getting his mother to relinquish her parental rights. She knew she needed to adopt him for insurance and healthcare reasons, because, once he was 18, she would no longer have any legal connection to him. If he wanted her to adopt him, that is.

"I'm just going to wait a couple of years and see how things go," Sharon answered slowly.

"Why? You might decide to give her up?"

"No, no, nothing like that...I, um..."

"Sharon, if you're worried about me, don't be. I don't expect you to adopt me. You've already done entirely too much for me. I'm just asking because I've been thinking about Harper's aunt this week. What kind of monster doesn't even want to see her dead brother's baby? Especially when she knows the baby has no other family. I can understand not being able to take care of her, but I can't believe she didn't even want to see her. If she ever does change her mind about Harper, it probably won't be because she loves her and wants to give her a good life. I just have a feeling we haven't heard the last from her, and it could probably get ugly."

"Well, she did sign something, revoking her parental rights..."

"But, if you were still just Harper's foster parent, and this aunt goes crazy and tries to get Harper, could she do it? Like, if she says she wasn't capable of taking care of Harper at the time, but now she is?"

"I don't know. I haven't thought about it that way. I'll talk to Gavin and see if we have anything to worry about." Sharon realized that she certainly needed to look into it, especially after her conversation with Harper's pediatrician.

"I mean, I know adoption isn't cheap..."

"Adopting a foster child actually isn't that expensive. I would just have to pay a few hundred dollars' worth of court costs, if that. I looked into it not long after you moved in with me, but I didn't know if you would want me to adopt you, and your mother would have to surrender her rights, so I decided to wait and bring it up with you once you turn 18. I will also have to officially divorce Jack at some point. But cost was never a concern in that decision."

"What's the point of adopting me when I'm 18? I'll be an adult."

"Yes, but you will be in college, so you will need to stay on my health insurance policy. And I would like to be your legal next of kin in case you ever get hurt or sick. I understand if you don't want to be adopted, and I'll get you your own health insurance and do what I can to help you should you ever have any health problems, but you don't need to worry about it now. Just know that you will always have my love and support, no matter what." Sharon thought that she had already made it clear to Rusty that she wasn't going to abandon him once he was no longer her and the state's responsibility, but she wanted to reassure him that she would always be there for him.

"I never thought about, like, insurance and crap."

"And you don't need to think about it now. I'll take care of it, regardless of whether you want to be adopted."

"I don't deserve you," Rusty said quietly, impulsively wrapping his arms around Sharon's waist and resting his head on her shoulder. Pleasantly surprised, Sharon held him close and stroked his hair.

"I think the same thing about you, sometimes. Before you came along, I came home to an empty apartment every day from a job where everyone hated me. You've given my life purpose again." Another thought suddenly dawned on Sharon. She couldn't believe she had never realized it before. "You know, Rusty, if you hadn't called 911 when you saw Phillip Stroh getting rid of his victim's body, then not only would I have never met you, but I would probably still be in FID and miserable. Attacking Stroh was the last straw that got Brenda fired. Of course, I would never wish being fired on anyone, and I'm pleased that Brenda is doing well with her new job, but you basically caused me to be transferred from a job I hated to a position where I have the affection and loyalty of my team. That makes a big difference."

"But I'm so much trouble. And I know I've been aggravating."

"You're a teenager, Rusty. I knew what I was signing up for. I have no regrets about you living with me, I promise. You turned my life around for the better in less than a week. A little teenage drama and crushed potato chips in the couch here and there pale in comparison."

"Maybe, but you've made my life a lot better, too. Less than a year ago, I was living in the streets."

"We'll call it even, then." Sharon kissed Rusty's forehead and just held him in silence for a few minutes.

"Thanks, Sharon. I feel a lot better now." Rusty got up to put his school things away and to change clothes, and Sharon decided to change clothes, as well. A little while later, Harper woke up from her nap, whimpering. Rusty went to her room and lifted her out of her crib. He loved that she was reaching for him and Sharon now when she wanted to be held. "Hey, Harps. What's wrong with the baby girl?" He asked, as she sniffled into his shoulder. Rusty changed her diaper and carried her into the kitchen, where Sharon was putting dinner in the oven.

"Hi, sweet girl," Sharon said, coming over to them and kissing Harper's forehead. Rusty could tell by the way she lingered that she was checking Harper's temperature.

"Is she sick?"

"No, but her shots might cause her to run a fever. I just wanted to make sure I didn't need to give her some Motrin. She feels fine for now, though." Sharon held her hands out to Harper, but she turned back and held on to Rusty. "Harper! You better come see Mommy!"

"I wouldn't let her hold me if she made me get shots either, Harps," Rusty said, carrying her into the living room and sitting in the recliner. "I know, I know, she, like, needs them and crap. I'm just trying to be sympathetic, here," Rusty said, catching the Look he got from Sharon.

Sharon rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. Thanks."

Once they had eaten dinner and put Harper to bed, Sharon and Rusty changed into pajamas and watched TV together on the couch. Sharon was surprised, but pleased, when Rusty lay down in her lap. He only did that when he was sick or upset about something. Although he didn't seem to be either of the above, Sharon knew he had a lot on his mind, with Harper and the adoption discussion they'd had earlier that evening. She didn't comment on it and just stroked his hair and rubbed his back as he snuggled against her. Later, when he went to bed, she went into his room to tuck him in. This act was also limited to when he wasn't feeling well or was upset, but she thought tonight was a good night for it.

"Sharon, you don't have to do this," Rusty said, as she pulled his covers back for him.

"Oh! If you don't like for me to-"

"I didn't say anything about not liking it," Rusty quickly clarified. "I just said you didn't have to." Sharon had tucked him in for the first time the night he got beaten up by his biological father. He'd thought Sharon was crazy at first, but he couldn't believe how comforting that simple act was. Rusty climbed into bed and allowed Sharon to pull the covers up to his shoulders, sighing in contentment as she straightened out the sheet and comforter and fussed over him for a few moments. Once she was satisfied, she brushed his bangs back and kissed his forehead.

"Goodnight, honey. Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight," Rusty murmured, before turning on his side and getting comfortable, waiting in anticipation for Sharon to start scratching his back. Her soft humming and soothing touch put him to sleep within minutes.


	4. Chapter 4

Several weeks later, Rusty left school one Friday afternoon and saw that Sharon had texted him, asking him to pick up Harper from daycare and bring her to the station, since they were having a slow afternoon. Harper was seven months old, and the rest of the the team hadn't seen her since the night of the murder. Tao had installed the base that had been in the Bennetts' other car into Rusty's car, so he was able to take Harper to daycare and pick her up, when needed. When Rusty got to the station with Harper, Sharon took her from him at once.

"Hi, my sweet girl! Did you have a good day?" Harper giggled and patted at Sharon's face in response.

"Hi, Sharon. My day was great, thanks for asking," Rusty said, mockingly.

"Hi, honey." Sharon kissed his cheek and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Did you get your algebra test back today?"

"Yeah, I made a 95."

"Good job," Sharon said, patting his shoulder affectionately. Rusty went to talk to Buzz about his history paper while Sharon sat in the middle of the murder room with Harper in her lap. She looked up in alarm when Provenza appeared from an empty conference room, with a grim expression on his face.

"Captain? We need to talk."

"I'll take Harper," Amy volunteered.

"Wait, let me try. She's bigger now, and not so scary," Andy said. "And you weren't so eager to hold her the night we found her, Sykes!"

"She was _tiny_ then," Amy defended herself. "And, I was the only woman there at the time, so there was too much pressure from you guys to know what to do with her."

Sharon absently handed Harper to Andy, and Harper immediately started wailing. "What's wrong? You don't remember me?" Andy asked, gently bouncing and trying to calm her.

"Looks to me like she remembers you quite well," Provenza quipped. Sharon dug through Harper's diaper bag for the report from daycare to see when she had last eaten, then quickly mixed a bottle and removed a container of Gerber Puffs. "Try to give her some of these. She's due to eat again in thirty minutes, but if she doesn't calm down in the next few minutes, you can go ahead and give her the bottle." She turned and led Provenza to her office.

Rusty was headed to the break room for a soda when he heard Harper's cries. He went to see what was going on and rescued Harper from Andy. Harper's cries immediately ceased and she lay on Rusty's shoulder, smiling at Andy. "Are you kidding me? I'd be mad at you if you weren't so cute," Andy said, giving her an exaggerated pout. .

"Here, maybe you'll have better luck with Amy," Rusty said, handing Harper to Amy. "I'm with Buzz in the electronics room if she starts crying again," he said, wondering where Sharon was. Harper whimpered at first, but settled in Amy's lap and took the offered Puffs from her hand.

"Harper! Come on, you're making me look bad," Andy said, giving her his best sad face. She just giggled and nuzzled against Amy's shoulder. Twenty minutes later, Harper was whimpering and rubbing her eyes, so Amy went ahead and fed her the bottle. She was nervous about her ability to put Harper to sleep, but she turned on her side toward Amy and got comfortable, so Amy held her tightly and gently spun from side to side in her desk chair. She couldn't believe how quickly and easily Harper fell asleep, or how much she enjoyed holding a baby.

Meanwhile, Provenza was delivering some unpleasant news to Sharon in her office. "I finally tracked down the aunt's ex-husband, and he believes Charolotte has some kind of mental or emotional disorder. She's had manic episodes and has threatened to do drastic things to him and the children. Their divorce stemmed from him trying to get her to seek psychiatric help, but she refused. He was able to terminate her visitation rights, even supervised visits, with their children, and he ended up getting a restraining order against her. She tried picking them up from school a few times, but, luckily, the school was able to stop her. He didn't know about Harper, and doesn't know if she will try anything, but you should probably keep an eye out."

"Where do they live, again?"

"San Diego."

Sharon sighed. "That's a little too close for comfort."

"The ex-husband did say he's able to track her phone with his. She clearly hasn't thought to disable that on her phone since they got divorced, so let's hope it stays that way. He checks her location often to make sure she's not near his home or the children's school, so he said he would let us know if he ever saw that she was near LA."

"All right," Sharon said, trying to remain calm. Let's pull some copies of her DMV picture. We'll post one up here, give one to security downstairs, Harper's daycare, Rusty's school, and the security office at my condo. I doubt she would go after Rusty directly, but if she finds us and figures out that he's connected to her, she might follow him or something. It wouldn't hurt for them to keep an eye out. Do you know what kind of car she drives?"

"Silver Prius."

"Great. There are only a million of those in LA."

"We're not positive that there's anything to worry about. Harper may not even be on her radar. But, manic behavior is characterized by extreme and reckless behavior, so going after Harper is a possibility. But, she probably doesn't have the mental capacity to plan anything out. If she did try to do something with Harper, it would be spontaneous and it would probably be fairly easy to stop her."

"Thanks, Lieutenant." Sharon followed Provenza out of her office and went to relieve Amy of Harper duty. "I've got some things to finish up here, but you guys are free to leave. If you still have paperwork to do, you may work on it at home, if you wish."

Everyone else left, but Amy volunteered to hold Harper until she woke up. Sharon went to tell Buzz that he could go home, told Amy to let her know if she got ready to leave before Harper woke up, and went back to her desk to finish up some things. An hour later, Sharon was ready to go home.

"How long has she been asleep?" Sharon asked, approaching Amy.

"About forty-five minutes."

"All right. She doesn't usually sleep much longer than that." Sharon gently took Harper from Amy, and Harper started whimpering during the transition. "I know, I know, it's so hard," Sharon soothed, as she buckled Harper into her car seat and rocked it until she was sleeping again. "Thanks so much for watching her, Amy."

"You're welcome. I enjoyed holding her. I didn't even know I liked babies." Sharon chuckled and went to get Rusty while Amy gathered her things, and the three of them left the building together.

After dinner that night, Rusty watched Harper in the living room while Sharon cleaned the kitchen. Harper had been getting on her hands and knees and rocking for a few days, and she was so close to crawling. "Come on, Harp," Rusty said, trying to entice her with a toy. She reached for it, and Rusty slowly started backing away from her. Eager to get to her toy, Harper unsteadily crawled toward it.

"Sharon! Get in here! Harper's crawling!" Rusty exclaimed. Sharon dashed into the living room, but Harper stopped and sat up when Sharon came in. "I swear, she was just doing it."

"Come on, Harp, show Mommy how you can crawl!" Harper grinned at Sharon, but didn't move. "All right, fine. I know the way to your heart." Sharon went to the kitchen and returned with a handful of Puffs. She sat on the floor a few feet away from Harper, and her eyes lit up when she saw what was in Sharon's hand. "Come on, you have to crawl to Mommy to get them!" Sharon said, teasing her with the Puffs. Harper immediately started crawling toward Sharon. "What a big girl!" Sharon gushed, pulling Harper into her lap and kissing her forehead. She held her hand out so Harper could eat the promised Puffs out of her hand. "Aw, did crawling wear you out?" Sharon asked, as Harper yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"It is almost bedtime," Rusty said, looking at his watch. "Can I put her down?"

"Sure, honey. I need to finish cleaning the kitchen, anyway." Rusty scooped up Harper from Sharon's lap and took her to Sharon's bathroom to give her a bath. There was a bathroom between Rusty's and Harper's bedrooms, but Sharon kept Harper's bath stuff in her room. Once Harper was bathed and in her crib, Rusty changed into his pajamas and came into the living room, where Sharon was on the couch, in her pajamas, with a glass of wine.

"Um, Sharon? If Harper's aunt tried to find her and called DCFS, would they have to tell her where she is?" Sharon had explained the status of Charlotte to Rusty while they were eating dinner.

"I don't know," Sharon answered slowly. I'll call Cynthia in the morning. I'll take a picture of Charlotte to her, too. I didn't even think about that. I forget that the two of you aren't my biological children sometimes."

"Me, too...Especially since you're the only real mom I've ever had." Sharon was surprised at this statement from Rusty. She knew she was important to him, but he rarely actually said things like this. Rusty shifted closer to her on the couch, so Sharon pulled the blanket from the back of the couch and draped it over herself and Rusty as he leaned against her shoulder. The possibility of Charlotte trying to take Harper seemed to have upset him a good bit.

"We just have to be careful, honey. I don't think Harper is in any real danger," Sharon said, brushing Rusty's bangs back from his forehead.

"'Kay," Rusty murmured, getting comfortable against Sharon to watch TV. If anything did happen, he knew Sharon could take care of it.


	5. Chapter 5

Rusty finished going over his homework with Buzz one Thursday afternoon and went to Sharon's office. "I'm finished with my homework, so I'm going to get Harp from daycare and go home."

Sharon took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. "Thanks, honey. I'll be finished here in about an hour, and I'll bring dinner. Be careful."

"I will. And I'm going to try to make potato soup tonight, like we had when we went out to eat last week. I googled a few recipes and bought the ingredients earlier this week, I just haven't had time to try it. Let's just order a pizza if the soup doesn't turn out good." Sharon and the rest of the team had been up all night the night before, trying to close a case, so Rusty knew she was tired.

"That sounds great."

Rusty walked into Harper's daycare and was surprised to find Mary, one of the room's leaders, holding Harper in her lap. She was almost nine months old now and had been crawling for a few weeks, and she rarely allowed anyone to hold her anymore. Harper spotted Rusty and started crying and reaching for him. She loved the ladies who worked in her room and this had never happened before.

What's wrong, Harps?" Rusty asked as he gathered her in his arms. Harper sniffled and lay limply against his shoulder.

"She's been clingy and acting like she's tired all afternoon, and her naps have been longer than usual," Mary told him. "I've taken her temperature a couple of times, but it's been normal. I hope she's not coming down with something."

Rusty thanked her and gathered Harper's things. When they got home, he put her in her high chair with some Cheerios and a couple of toys to entertain her while he cooked. Harper whimpered when he turned away from her to start cooking, but started playing half-heartedly with her toys. Rusty rifled through the cabinets, trying to remember where he saw the potato dicer. Why Sharon even owned one was a mystery to him, but seeing it earlier that week had given him the idea to try the soup, and he wouldn't have to cut up a bunch of potatoes. Harper started whimpering again a little while later, but Rusty almost had the soup ready to start cooking.

"Hold on, Harps, just a minute." Rusty quickly finished preparing the ingredients and turned the stove on. "All right, come on. What is wrong with you today?" Rusty lifted Harper out of her high chair and stroked her hair. She didn't feel warm, but he could hear congestion in her breathing that he hadn't heard when he picked her up at daycare. "Are you getting a cold? Let's go read for a little bit until Mommy comes home. She'll know what to do with you." Rusty got a couple of Harper's books and sat in the recliner in the living room with her. Halfway through the first book, her face was buried into his shoulder, so he gave up and decided to just rock her. He turned her around to face him and she lay on his shoulder, sniffling softly. Rusty rocked and patted her back, anxiously listening for Sharon to come in.

Sharon came home a little while later and found Rusty stirring the soup on the stove with a sniffling Harper on his hip, lying listlessly on his shoulder. Rusty looked up as she came into the kitchen.

"Rusty, that soup smells amazing! Aw, what's wrong with baby girl?" Sharon asked, taking in Harper's miserable appearance.

"I don't know. Does she have a fever?" Rusty asked, turning so that Harper was facing Sharon.

"No, she feels all right," Sharon said after pressing her hand to Harper's forehead. "She does seem a little congested, though."

"Mary said she wanted to be held all afternoon, and Harper cried when she saw me come in."

"That's odd. I'll check her temperature before she goes to bed, but she doesn't feel warm. She certainly doesn't seem to be feeling well, though. Come here, sweet girl, let's give Rusty a break."

"Ma-ma," Harper babbled pitifully as she reached for Sharon and got comfortable on her shoulder.

"Is my baby not feeling good?" Sharon asked, stroking her hair and kissing her forehead. "Well, this wet diaper is one problem." Harper screamed for the short time it took to get her diaper changed and reached for Sharon the whole time, obviously unhappy about not being held. Sharon rocked her for a while before trying to feed her. "All right, honey, want to eat some pears?" Sharon asked brightly. "They're your favorite." She walked into the kitchen and placed Harper in her high chair, but Harper immediately started wailing and reaching for Sharon. "Just a minute, Harp, let Mommy find your food." Less than half of the jar of baby food was gone when Harper started crying and turning away from Sharon when she tried to feed her. Sharon finally got up and dampened a paper towel so she could clean Harper up. "Rusty? How was her appetite today?"

Rusty dug through Harper's diaper bag and found the report from daycare. "She ate fine this morning. She finished most of her bottles this afternoon, but wouldn't eat her lunch or any puffs or Cheerios or anything. It looks like she started feeling bad after her morning nap."

"Poor baby," Sharon murmured, wiping Harper's face and hands before lifting her out of her high chair. Harper buried her face into Sharon's neck and grasped her long hair, like she always did when she was tired. "When was her last bottle?" Rusty looked at the sheet from daycare again.

"4:00. She slept for most of the afternoon, too." Sharon looked at the clock. It was almost 7:00.

"I'm going to go ahead and bathe her and put her pajamas on. She'll be ready for a bottle by then, and I'll try to put her down a little early. I won't be far behind her."

"I can do that if you're ready to eat dinner. I know you're tired after not sleeping last night."

"No, honey, it's all right. If Harper's coming down with something, I don't want you to get sick, too."

"And if you get sick?"

"Then I get sick. Emily and Ricky toughened up my immune system pretty well, though." Sharon checked Harper's temperature, and the thermometer showed a normal reading. She carried Harper to the bathroom and undressed her while the bathtub filled up. She bathed her quickly and dressed her for bed. Rusty came into Harper's room with a bottle as Sharon was zipping up her sleep sack.

"Thanks, honey." Once Harper had been fed and read to, Sharon rocked her, singing softly. Harper had been doing well with going to sleep on her own at night, but Sharon wanted to rock her to sleep since she didn't seem to be feeling well. Once Harper was sleeping peacefully in Sharon's arms, she kissed her forehead, but still didn't feel any fever. "Goodnight, sweetheart," she murmured as she lowered Harper into her crib.

When Sharon went back into the kitchen, there was a bowl of potato soup and a glass of wine at her place at the table, and Rusty was getting soup and a glass of juice for himself. "Thanks, Rusty. This looks great."

"Is Harper okay?" Rusty asked, as they both started to eat.

"She doesn't have a fever, so I don't know if she was just tired today, or if she's getting sick. I'm off tomorrow, though, so even if she still isn't running a fever in the morning, I may keep her home with me, if she still seems out of sorts. I would have only taken her to daycare for a few hours, anyway, so I could get some things done." Sharon took a bite of soup. "This soup is incredible! Where did you find the recipe?"

Rusty shrugged. "I googled a few recipes to get the basic idea, but I tweaked some of the measurements and added some stuff."

"You should write it down. This is better than the soup we had at the restaurant last week."

"Thanks," Rusty murmured, not sure how to accept her praise.

Later that night, Sharon woke to Harper's sobs coming through the monitor on her nightstand. She hadn't woken up in the middle of the night in several weeks. Sharon dragged herself out of bed when she heard Harper coughing, remembering that she hadn't seemed to be feeling well the evening before. She walked across the hall and lifted Harper from her crib.

"What's wrong, Harp? Are you feeling yucky?" Sharon held her hand to Harper's forehead, sighing softly when she felt a bit of a fever. Harper shivered and snuggled against Sharon, seeking warmth. "It's all right, honey, let's go get you some medicine." Sharon gave Harper some Motrin and rocked her back to sleep. After putting her back in her crib, she turned the humidifier on and left the room.

The next morning, Sharon was standing at the kitchen counter in her nightgown and making Rusty's lunch when he came into the kitchen for breakfast. "I could have done that, Sharon, you didn't need to get up just for that."

"I didn't. Harp will be awake soon, and I wanted to make sure you were okay before you left for school."

"I'm fine...Do you want me to take Harper to daycare, or is she staying home with you?"

"I'm keeping her home. She woke up screaming last night, and she had a little fever. I'm going to take her to the doctor today, so if we're not here when you get home this afternoon, that's where we'll be. Her temperature didn't seem to be too high, but it's been a long time since I've taken care of a sick baby, and things have changed since then. I just want to make sure I'm doing the right things for her."

"'Kay." Rusty ate his cereal, took his lunch from Sharon, and left. Sharon called Dr. Walker's office as soon as it opened and made an appointment for Harper at 2:00. As Sharon was hanging up the phone, she heard whimpers from Harper's room. She had pulled herself up and was reaching for Sharon when she came in.

"Hi, honey," Sharon murmured as she lifted Harper out of her crib. She changed her diaper and decided to leave her pajamas on until it was time to get her dressed for her doctor's appointment. "You still don't feel good, do you?" Sharon asked, after kissing the baby's warm forehead. She carried Harper into the kitchen to give her some Motrin and check her temperature, which was 101.4. "Poor baby. Let's get you a bottle."

Sharon spent most of the morning under a blanket on the couch with Harper sleeping on and off on her shoulder. By lunchtime, her temperature had shot up to 103. Sharon laid Harper down in her crib for her next nap, so she could eat lunch and get herself dressed. When Harper woke up, it was almost time to leave for her appointment, so Sharon gave her a bottle and dressed her. An hour later, Sharon was sitting in an exam room in Dr. Walker's office with a lethargic Harper in her lap.

"Hi, Harper, what's the matter?" Dr. Walker asked when she entered the room.

"She was clingy and sluggish all day yesterday, and she started coughing and running a fever late last night. She also sounds congested. Her temperature wasn't very high until lunchtime, though. I know things have changed since my children were babies, so I wanted to go ahead and bring her in so I can make sure I'm doing the right things for her."

"All right, let's see what's going on, here." Dr. Walker gently examined Harper for the next few minutes. "Is the flu going around at work or Harper's daycare?"

Sharon shook her head. "Not that I'm aware of. Rusty, my foster son, hasn't been ill recently, either."

"Okay. I believe she has a viral infection, which has been fairly rampant in the last several weeks. Its symptoms mimic the flu, so I'm going to do a flu test, just to rule it out." While they were waiting for the results from the flu test, Dr. Walker gave Sharon suggestions for managing Harper's symptoms and warning signs to watch for.

"Should I keep Rusty away from Harper? He's sixteen."

"Yes. This virus has seemed to hit older children harder than it has babies, and I've seen several teenagers with it. If he does get sick, call his doctor if he has a fever for longer than four days, or if his temperature is over 103 and doesn't respond to medicine. Pneumonia is a fairly rare, but possible, complication." Dr. Walker left then to get the results from the flu test. "The flu test is negative," she said when she came back into the room. "Just keep an eye on her temperature and bring her back if she hasn't improved by Monday." Sharon thanked her and left.

When Sharon and Harper got home, Rusty had just gotten home from school and was making a snack for himself. "What's wrong with her?"

"She has a viral infection that's similar to the flu. Speaking of which, the doctor said you need to stay away from her."

"Come on, Sharon, I'm not any likelier to get sick than you are."

"Maybe not, but I can handle being sick myself much better than I can handle seeing you sick. Those puppy-dog 'why can't you make this sickness go away' eyes are heartbreaking," Sharon said, affectionately stroking Rusty's cheek.

"Oh, my god," Rusty muttered, flushing with embarrassment. Harper whimpered and reached for Rusty. "Sorry, Harps, but Mommy won't let me hold you," Rusty said, turning back to his snack. Harper's bottom lip stuck out ominously and she gave Rusty a bewildered look. She wasn't accustomed to not getting exactly what she wanted from him. "Seriously, Sharon, I can't deal with that until she's better."

Sharon smiled. "Well, you're going to have to. It's not a problem for me at all if you do get sick," she quickly clarified. "I just hate to see you not feeling well when there's nothing I can do to make you feel better."

"Hey, you're pretty good at making me feel better when I'm sick," Rusty admitted shyly.

"Thank you. But you still have to stay away from Harper while she's sick."

" _Damn_ it!"

"Come on, Harp, let's change your diaper and get your jams back on while Rusty pouts," Sharon said to Harper, who was lying listlessly on her shoulder. Sharon put her hand on Harper's forehead. "Hmm, you need more Motrin, too."

"This is not over!" Rusty called down the hall to Sharon's retreating form.


	6. Chapter 6

By Sunday night, Harper seemed to be feeling a little better. Rusty didn't want to admit it to himself, and certainly not to Sharon, but now he was starting to feel sick. He had a headache, a mild sore throat, and just felt weak. All he wanted to do was go to bed. He had caught Sharon watching him a couple of times that day, so he knew she was on to him. When Sharon finally left the living room to put Harper to bed, Rusty lay down on the couch, intending to sit back up when he heard Sharon coming back down the hall.

When Sharon came back into the living room thirty minutes later, Rusty had fallen asleep the couch. He jerked awake when he felt her sit on the edge of the couch. "Are you feeling all right?" Sharon asked, holding her hand to his forehead.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Your eyes look weak." She put her hand on his cheek and studied him critically.

"God, yes. And what does that even mean?"

"I can't explain it. It used to make me crazy when my mom said that to me when I was sick, but I understood what she meant once I had my own children." Sharon held her hand under Rusty's chin and tilted his face toward her. "You're a little pale, but you don't have a fever..."

"I just have a headache. My Algebra homework did me in. Um, I think I'm going to go to bed and try to sleep it off."

"Okay, honey. I'll be there in a few minutes with some Tylenol." Sharon gave Rusty time to change before going to his room with some Tylenol PM and a glass of water. She sat on the edge of his bed and handed him two pills and the water. "Are you sure nothing else is wrong?" She asked, brushing his bangs back from his forehead.

"Yeah, I'm just tired. I'll feel better tomorrow."

Sharon gave him a disbelieving look, but dropped the subject for the time being. "All right. Come get me if you wake up tonight feeling worse." She leaned down and kissed his forehead.

"'Kay," Rusty murmured, closing his eyes. He rolled over on his side, knowing Sharon would scratch his back until he fell asleep. Sharon's soft humming and soothing, familiar touch put him to sleep in no time. Once Rusty was asleep, Sharon put an extra glass of water on his nightstand and placed a few extra blankets beside him on his bed. She turned off the alarm on his phone for the next morning, planning to check on him when she got up in the morning. If he was obviously sick, she could let him sleep in.

On Monday morning, Sharon got up early to check on Rusty. She had checked on him a few hours before when she heard him coughing, but he hadn't seemed feverish then. When she got to his room this time, a touch to his forehead confirmed that he had a fever. She decided to go back to bed until Harper woke up.

When Rusty woke up a little while later, his throat was hurting worse, and he remembered coughing for most of the night, but he still didn't feel too bad. He also remembered Sharon coming in his room a couple of times, so he knew she was on high alert. She would know he was sick right away, if she didn't know already, so he didn't bother to try to hide it. Shivering, he put a sweatshirt on and went to search for her. She was on the couch with a sleeping Harper in her lap and talking to Emily on FaceTime.

"Shaaaaron, I think Harper made me sick," Rusty whined, coughing as he entered the living room.

"Oh, honey, come here, let me see." Sharon held her blanket open and Rusty snuggled against her, resting against her free shoulder. She settled the blanket over him and felt his forehead. "You feel pretty warm. Not warm enough to torture you with the thermometer just yet, though."

"Good. I hate that thing."

Sharon wrapped her arm around him and gently squeezed his shoulders. "I'm sorry you don't feel well."

"Ugh, I'm so jealous," Emily moaned from Sharon's computer screen.

"Hi, Emily...Are you sick, too? You look awful."

"Yeah. All. Damn. Weekend."

"That sucks." Rusty looked at his phone and saw that it was almost 10:00. He was just now realizing that it was Monday and that Sharon hadn't pulled him out of bed by his hair when he didn't get up with his alarm. Then, he noticed the thermometer, bottle of Tylenol, and glass of orange juice on the coffee table. He looked suspiciously at Sharon. "Wait a minute, did you already know I was sick this morning?"

Sharon smiled. "Of course I did."

"You are so creepy."

"Isn't she, though?" Emily piped up. "She knew I was sick last night because my texts 'sounded sick.' I didn't say a word about not feeling well, but she called after three texts, demanding to know what was wrong with me."

"Well, Emily, you never use abbreviations in texts, and you weren't nearly as detailed in them as you usually are. And, you, young man, were lying around all day yesterday and didn't complain once about not being able to hold Harper. Not to mention that your eyes-"

"Looked weak." Rusty and Emily finished for her in unison.

"Exactly. My detective skills were not required to figure out that either one of you were sick."

"You're still creepy."

"Thank you. Now, what hurts?"

"I don't feel that bad."

"Oh, Russell," Emily said, shaking her head in mock disappointment. " _Never_ admit to that. As far as Mom knows, you should be on death's doorstep. She works for you."

"I can tell when you're exaggerating your symptoms just as well as I can tell when this one's trying to act like he's not sick, young lady."

"Still. He at least has to try. Have I taught you _nothing_ , little brother?"

"Sorry. I'll do better next time."

"That's all I ask."

"All right, honey, you need to rest," Sharon said to Emily. "If you're still running a fever tomorrow, go to the doctor. I mean it."

"I don't have a fever anymore."

"Yes, you do. I know what a fever looks like just as well as I know what a fever feels like."

"This isn't fair. I shouldn't have to deal with your instructions and never-ending questions when I can't benefit from you being here to sleep with me and cook and do stuff for me."

"You could make just as much money dancing in LA, you know."

"Ugh..."

"Seriously, Emily, you need to rest now. You look terrible. Bye, honey. Love you. Feel better."

"Thanks, Mom. Love you."

Sharon disconnected the call and looked at Rusty in concern when he started coughing. "What else is bothering you? I can tell your throat hurts. Do you have a headache?" Rusty nodded. "Anything else? Do you feel achy?" Another nod. "It sounds like you have the same virus as Harper. Her pediatrician said it would probably hit you harder, though, if you caught it from her."

"Fantastic. I don't have to go to the doctor, though, do I? Harper didn't get a prescription or anything."

"No. Dr. Walker did give me some things to watch for that would necessitate a doctor's appointment, though."

"But you won't, like, take me to that baby doctor, right?"

Sharon laughed. "No, honey. I'll take you to Dr. Carlson, if it comes to that." Harper started to stir then, and she sat up and smiled when she saw Rusty.

"Is Harper still sick?"

"She doesn't have a fever anymore, but she did last night, so I can't take her back to daycare until tomorrow. If she's still as sluggish as she has been this morning, though, I'll keep her at home with us for another day."

"But I can hold her now, can't I?"

"Yes, if you feel up to it. Her doctor said I wouldn't need to keep her from you if you got sick with the same thing."

"Good. I'm dying, here." Rusty reached for Harper and she happily held her arms out for him. "Did you get me sick on purpose so I could stay home with you today?" Rusty asked, making a silly face at her. Harper laughed and tapped his face. "Oh, you think it's funny that you made me sick? I'll get you back for that. Payback's a-"

" _Rusty_."

"Oh, right. Sorry. _Language_." Now that Harper was no longer being entertained, she yawned and rested her head on Rusty's shoulder. She didn't seem to want to go back to sleep, she just obviously still wasn't feeling well. "Ugh, Flynn was right. You're way too cute to get mad at," Rusty said, rubbing her back as she lay against him.

"Do you feel up to holding her for a few minutes while I make breakfast?"

"Sharon. She's just lying here. I think I can handle it."

"All right. But let me know if you get tired and want to lie down. I won't be long. Do you want waffles or bacon and eggs?"

"Yes."

"Well, which one?"

"All of the above. I want my last meal in case I start feeling bad enough to not want to eat."

"Very logical." Sharon handed Rusty two Tylenol and the glass of juice, then got up to make breakfast. Twenty minutes later, a FaceTime call from Sharon's mom came up on Sharon's computer.

"Hi, Gran."

"Rusty? What-"

"You hit the FaceTime icon beside Sharon's name in your contacts instead of the 'call' icon. Again."

"I do that all the time. You poor dear, Sharon told me yesterday afternoon that she thought you were getting sick. I guess she was right."

"Of course she was," Rusty muttered.

"You sound awful, honey. Why are you taking care of Harper? Where is Sharon?"

"I'm not. I mean, I'm just holding her while Sharon cooks breakfast. Don't worry, she's in full-blown hovering mode."

Sharon appeared behind the couch and took Harper from Rusty.

"Just in time," Rusty said, wrinkling his nose as Sharon picked up Harper. "She needs to be changed. Number two." Sharon took Harper to her room to change her and came back a few minutes later and stood behind the couch. "I'll bring you your breakfast as soon as the bacon is done. Need anything? How are you feeling?"

"See?" Rusty said to Sharon's mom.

"Honey. _I_ do not hover. That woman right there? _She_ hovers. Not me."

"The proverbial apple and the tree come to mind..."

Sharon swatted at Rusty, then brought him his breakfast and sat beside him on the couch. "Hi, Mom."

"Hi, darling. It's been a while since you've had two sick babies, hasn't it? Don't look so disgusted, Rusty, our children will always be our babies. Even though it's been over half of a century since Sharon was _actually_ a baby, she's still _my_ baby."

"Ugh, _thanks_ , mother."

"Any time. I was just calling to see how Harper was feeling. And if you had a new patient, which I can see you do."

"Yes. His fever isn't too high, but, if Harper's anything to go by, his temperature will probably go up a good bit this afternoon."

"He should get some rest, then. I'll let you go. Feel better, sweetheart. Let me know if Sharon falls short of catering to your every need."

"Thanks. And, if hell does freeze over, I'll let you know."

"Bye, Mom. Love you."

"You too. Let me know how they're both feeling tomorrow."

"I will." Sharon disconnected the call, then fed Harper a bottle while Rusty ate his breakfast. After Rusty had eaten, he lay down in the small space of Sharon's lap that wasn't occupied by Harper, nudging her over a little bit in the process.

"Sorry, Harp, you're going to have to share Mommy."

"Now this is what I call a lapful."

"Hey, you insisted on spoiling me the first time I was sick with you. I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself. There's no turning back now, though."

"I'm not complaining," Sharon said, fondly stroking Rusty's hair.

"Good. Because that feels awesome," Rusty said, pressing himself more closely to Sharon as she continued running her fingers through his hair. They started watching a movie on TV, and it didn't take long for Rusty to fall asleep. When he woke up, he felt a lot worse and Sharon was missing, but he could hear her coming down the hall.

"Shaaaaron..." Rusty croaked. Sharon rushed to the couch and sat beside him.

"I'm right here, baby. You feel worse, don't you?" Rusty nodded and closed his eyes as Sharon's cool hand brushed his hair back from his face. "I need to check your temperature..."

"Noooo, just use your hand," Rusty whined.

"Sorry, honey, but you're burning up," Sharon said, resting her hand on his forehead. "I need to make sure I don't need to take you to the doctor."

"Where's Harp?" He asked, trying to delay having the cold, pointy object shoved in his mouth.

"Asleep."

"Again? She just woke up."

"Honey, you've been asleep for almost three hours. Now, open up and be quiet." Defeated, Rusty opened his mouth for the thermometer, closing his eyes again as Sharon's hand resumed brushing his bangs back from his forehead. "103.3," she announced after the thermometer beeped. "I'm calling Dr. Carlson in the morning if it stays this high."

"Tylenol?"

"Not for another hour."

"I'm cold."

"All right." Sharon spread two more blankets over him and tucked them around his shoulders. "Better?" Rusty nodded. Sharon got her phone so she could check in with work, then sat on the couch and placed Rusty's head in her lap. After finding something on TV for him to watch, she received a text from Provenza, which sent chills up her spine.

 _Harper's aunt's ex-husband just called. She's disabled his ability to track her phone, so he can no longer monitor her location. That most likely had more to do with him and their children than with Harper, but be careful._

"What's wrong?" Rusty asked, when the fingers that had been stroking his hair froze and he heard Sharon's sharp intake of breath.

"Nothing, honey. Need anything?"

"Yeah, to feel better," he moaned.

"I need you to feel better, myself. I don't like seeing you so sick." Sharon knew she was being ridiculous. Charlotte didn't even want Harper, and, if she decided she did, she couldn't find Harper without getting the information from DCFS, and they knew not to give out information about Harper to anyone without contacting Sharon first. Still, the mental instability angle worried her. But it would be virtually impossible for Charlotte to find Harper without the information from DCFS. She hoped.


	7. Chapter 7

Sharon woke up on Wednesday morning when she heard Harper babbling through the baby monitor. She looked at the baby on the screen of the monitor and was surprised to see that she was standing up. She had never pulled herself up before. Sharon got out of bed and quickly got dressed before walking across the hall to Harper's room.

"Good Morning, sweetheart. Look who can pull herself up now! You are such a big girl!" Sharon cooed, lifting Harper out of her crib. Once Harper was dressed and fed, Sharon decided to take her to daycare. She felt a little guilty, since she would be at home, but there was no way she could keep up with Harper and take care of Rusty at the same time. The day before, Harper had gotten over the lethargy from being sick around lunchtime, and Sharon had been exhausted from chasing after a nine month old and taking care of a sick teenager all day. Harper loved daycare, and Sharon was going to pick her up earlier than normal, anyway.

"I think someone's feeling well enough to go back to daycare," Sharon said, picking Harper up after chasing her down the hall. "I bet Miss Mary's been missing you!" Sharon packed Harper's diaper bag and left a note for Rusty on his nightstand.

 _I'm taking Harp to daycare and buying groceries. I should be back before 10:00. Call me if you wake up before I get back._ _I mean it._

 _Love you. -S._

When Sharon returned a little while later, Rusty was still sleeping, so she threw the note away and changed back into her pajama pants. Once the groceries were unpacked, she prepared the ingredients for her mother's chicken soup recipe and left a large pot of it cooking on the stove. She had stayed up late the night before to finish up her paperwork from their most recent case, so she didn't feel obligated to do anything for work. After pouring her second cup of coffee for the morning, she settled on the couch to watch the last hour of the _Today Show._ Rusty came in at 10:30, coughing and sniffling, and slumped beside her on the couch. He had been miserable on Monday and Tuesday, but she hoped he was feeling a little better today.

"Hi, honey. How are you feeling?"

"Like hell," Rusty muttered, curling up against Sharon and lying on her shoulder.

"You're not feeling any better at all?" Sharon asked, covering him with a blanket from the back of the couch and tucking it around his shoulders. She wrapped her arms around him and held him close.

Rusty shook his head. "I don't feel good," he said, looking up at her pleadingly.

"I know you don't, baby." Sharon gave him a sympathetic look and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Do you want me to take you to the doctor?"

"No...I just needed to whine for a minute. I'm good now."

"You sound like your throat hurts worse," Sharon observed. "I don't like the way your cough sounds, either." Her hand paused on Rusty's forehead to assess his temperature. "Your fever should have gone down, at least a little bit, by now," she said, with concern evident in her features. She took his temperature, and it was still 102.5, just like it had been before he went to bed the night before. She didn't need to call the doctor just yet, but she hated that Rusty was still feeling so bad. "Are you hungry?"

"Please don't make me eat."

"I won't...Yet. But I'm cooking chicken soup, if that interests you. It will be ready in a couple of hours."

"Now, that, I think I could eat. I didn't know people actually made it from scratch until the first time you cooked it for me."

"Ah, yes...At least you're slightly less grumpy this time."

"I'm not grumpy. And it's not nice to make fun of the infirmed."

"You were also a little more cooperative in telling me what was wrong this time."

"Whatever..."

 _November 2012_

Rusty sat at the breakfast bar one Monday morning, still in his pajamas and picking at his cereal. He felt like hell, so he had opted to eat breakfast before taking a shower, hoping it would give him a little energy. Before he lived with Sharon, he just skipped school when he was sick. No one noticed or cared. He knew Sharon was actually paying for him to attend his private school, though, and she had lectured him on the importance of school attendance before school had even started, so he knew he couldn't stay home.

"Good Morning," Sharon greeted politely when she came in for a cup of coffee.

"Morning." Sharon looked at Rusty in concern when she heard how congested and scratchy his voice sounded. He was staring listlessly at his cereal, so she leaned against the counter on her elbows, studying him critically. He wasn't paying her any attention. After a few moments, he seemed to feel her eyes on him and looked up. He about jumped out of his skin. "God, Sharon, you scared the crap out of me. Why are you looking at me like that?"

Ignoring his question, Sharon walked around the counter and stood beside Rusty. She held one hand under his chin and tilted his face toward her for a better look, then felt his forehead with her other hand. "I knew it," she murmured.

"Knew what? What the hell are you doing? You're creeping me out."

"You're sick. Go back to bed."

Rusty mistook her brusque tone for annoyance, so he tried to deny it. "I'm fine, Sharon. I'm probably just getting a cold." He tried to duck away from the soft hand that was still on his forehead, but Sharon kept it there.

"You're running a pretty high fever, honey," Sharon said, her tone softening. "You're staying home from school. Get back in bed, and I'll come check your temperature and give you some Tylenol."

"I'm not-"

"Now, young man," Sharon ordered, pointing down the hall toward his room. "Wait, let me get you some more juice." She refilled his glass and handed it to him. "Now go. I'll be right there."

"Fine...But I'm not sick."

"We'll see about that." Sharon texted Taylor and Provenza that Rusty was sick and she needed to stay home with him. She hadn't taken a sick day since Ricky was in high school, and she knew Provenza would enjoy taking over in her absence, so she didn't expect a protest from either of them. After digging through the medicine cabinet for the thermometer and Tylenol, she went to see about Rusty. She remembered that he had been wearing a sweatshirt, so she stopped in the hall to bump up the thermostat on the way to his room.

Rusty climbed back in bed, grateful that he didn't have to suffer through a day of school. Strangely, it felt kind of nice for Sharon to fuss over him and insist that he stay home. His mom, nor his other foster parents, had ever noticed when he was sick or whether or not he had gone to school. Or they just didn't care. Rusty got comfortable and waited for Sharon, and found himself wishing that she didn't have to go to work.

"What's that?" Rusty asked suspiciously, when Sharon approached his bed with the thermometer in her hand.

"A thermometer...Has no one ever taken your temperature before?"

Rusty recognized the device in her hand when she got closer. "The school nurse did one time when I was little, and my mom had sent me to school, even though I tried to tell her I was sick. I didn't expect you to have one here, though. I thought schools, and I guess doctors, just had to have them."

"Oh, honey..." Sharon sat on Rusty's bed and tenderly brushed his bangs back from his forehead. "You're burning up," she murmured. "What's the matter?"

Sharon's attentiveness suddenly made Rusty feel guilty for some reason. He didn't really know how to act, and he was trying to be as little trouble as possible for Sharon. "Nothing."

"You have a fever, and you sound terrible. Something has to hurt." Rusty still didn't answer. Sighing, Sharon held up the thermometer. "Open up."

"Why do you have to take my temperature if you already know I have a fever?"

"Oh, you have a fever? I thought you weren't sick."

"I didn't say-you just said-dear god, I walked right into that one."

Sharon smiled. "Yes, you did. But now my job's a little easier. You might as well tell me what's wrong."

"Don't feel good," Rusty muttered.

Sharon held back an exasperated sigh that threatened to escape. "I can see that. Will you please be more specific?"

"It doesn't matter. Just leave me alone, I can take care of myself."

"It may not matter to you, but it happens to matter to me. I need to know what hurts. Your throat obviously hurts, and you've been coughing...Do you have a headache?" Rusty shook his head. "Oh, my god, this is more serious than I thought," Sharon said, in mock horror. "Your nose just grew!"

Rusty tried to suppress a laugh, but a few chuckles escaped. "Fine. You're right about everything. As usual."

"Do you feel achy?" Sharon asked, slipping back into concerned mode.

"I guess. My arms and legs feel, like, heavy."

"That sounds like the flu," Sharon said, sympathetically. Rusty started coughing then, and she patted his back until he finished, then held the thermometer up expectantly, waiting for him to open his mouth.

"Do you seriously have to do this?" Rusty whined.

"Yes. I need to know how high your temperature is, so I'll know whether to call the doctor today or to give you a couple of days and see if you feel better first."

"No doctor..." Rusty mumbled.

"That's my decision. Open up." Sighing, Rusty obediently opened his mouth, then went to take the thermometer from Sharon. "No, honey, stay under the covers. You're cold."

"103.4," Sharon announced when the thermometer emitted its final beep. She handed Rusty two Tylenol and his juice. "Do you need anything?" She asked, as he handed his glass back to her to put on his nightstand.

"Just wanna sleep. I'll be fine."

Sharon tightened the covers around Rusty's shoulders. "Are you warm enough?" He nodded drowsily.

"How did you know I was sick?" He asked, trying to keep her in the room with him a little longer.

"Your cheeks were flushed and you sounded awful. And don't get me started on your weak eyes."

"I don't even want to know what that means. Ummm..." Rusty tried to come up with another question, but his drowsiness was taking over.

"I'll stay with you until you fall asleep," Sharon assured him, sensing his reluctance for her to leave him. She patted his back until his breathing evened out and she could tell he was asleep.

Rusty slept until noon, and was drawn to the kitchen by a savory smell. Sharon was standing at the stove and stirring something in a large pot. He guessed she had come home for her lunch break, but realized she was wearing yoga pants and a t-shirt.

"Sharon? What are you doing here? Oh, my god, did I get you sick?"

Sharon turned around when she heard Rusty's voice. "Oh! I didn't realize you were awake. What do you mean, 'what am I doing here?' You're sick."

"You stayed home with me?" Rusty asked, in disbelief.

Sharon walked over to the bar stool where Rusty was now sitting and put her hand on his shoulder. "Of course I did. You're too sick to be here by yourself. How are you feeling?"

"Like hell."

Sharon placed her other hand on his forehead. "I imagine so. Your temperature went up." She pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead and gently wiped off her lipstick that had transferred to his skin. "I called my doctor this morning, and you have an appointment at 3:00."

"Thanks...What are you cooking?"

"Chicken soup. Do you want to get back in bed? Or sit on the couch? I'll bring you a bowl if you're too tired to sit in here."

"Nah, I was getting bedsores."

Sharon got a bottle of Gatorade out of the refrigerator and poured a glass. "I went to the store while you were sleeping, but I forgot to ask what flavor of Gatorade you like," she said, apologetically.

"Blue is good. Thank you."

"Drink half of that," Sharon said, then turned to the stove to prepare two bowls of soup. she set a bowl and spoon in front of Rusty and sat beside him with her own bowl.

"Whoa! This is, like, real chicken soup. I thought you had warmed up a couple of cans," Rusty said, after taking his first bite.

Sharon smiled. "I follow my mother's recipe to the letter, but I still can't get mine to taste as good as hers. I try, though."

"This is pretty damn good."

"Thank you."

 _Back to present_

After lunch, Rusty napped on and off on the couch, and Sharon stayed by his side, at a loss for what to do for him. She had been giving him Tylenol and cough syrup as often as was safe, but he wasn't getting any better. When he wasn't asleep, he just lay in her lap, staring listlessly at the TV. When he fell asleep again at 4:00, Sharon decided to slip out and pick up Harper. She held her hand to his forehead, frustrated when he still felt relentlessly hot. After changing out of her pajamas, Sharon hurried to Harper's daycare and got her to the car as quickly as she could, eager to get back to Rusty. She was in such a hurry that she missed the silver Prius in the parking lot of the daycare, whose passenger was watching Sharon with great interest.


	8. Chapter 8

Rusty woke up coughing late Thursday night and sat up, trying to clear his lungs. This stupid virus somehow made him feel worse at night than he did during the day. He remembered drinking the last of his glass of water on his nightstand the last time he woke up, and he dreaded getting out of bed to get more. He started to get up, but noticed that the glass was full again. How...? _Sharon_. Of course. The long nights had been a blur, but he knew she had been getting out of bed multiple times per night to check on him. He didn't wake up every time she came in, but there was always a sign, like a refilled water glass or straightened covers that he had jumbled up in his restless sleep and been too tired to fix himself, that she had been there recently when he did wake up. When his face felt like it was on fire, it wasn't long before she came in to give him some Tylenol and wipe his face with a cool cloth. When the rest of his body was freezing, she always appeared with extra blankets and would tuck him in and wrap her arms around him until he warmed up. He had no idea how she always knew exactly what he needed, but he was damn glad she did.

Rusty couldn't go back to sleep, and he was afraid his coughing was going to wake Sharon up. He knew she would want him to wake her up, but she would probably be up soon to check on him, and he wanted her to get as much sleep as she could before she woke up on her own. He got his water and walked into the living room, which was a little farther away from Sharon's room than his room was. The couch was still made up with sheets and blankets, so he got under the covers and turned the TV on, quickly turning the volume down. He was resting his head against the back of the couch and flipping through the channels when he felt Sharon's cool and familiar hand on his forehead. Good lord, there was going to be an imprint of her hand on his forehead before he was well again. He looked up and found a pair of concerned green eyes looking down at him.

"Hi, honey. What are you doing out of bed?"

"Couldn't sleep."

Sharon fished out two pills from the Tylenol bottle that was in her hand and placed them in Rusty's palm, then gave him his glass of water from the coffee table. "Get back in bed, and I'll lie down with you for a little bit. You can watch a movie if you still can't go back to sleep."

"'Kay." Rusty got up, and Sharon walked beside him, with one hand on his back. She paused outside of her bedroom.

"Why don't we get in my bed? Maybe a change of scenery will help you go back to sleep. And sheets that haven't been kicked to the edge of the mattress. Your bed looks like a murder took place!" Rusty didn't really care, he just wanted to lie down. He allowed Sharon to lead him into her room and tuck him in on her side of the bed. The sheets were already warm, and her comforting scent emanated from the soft linens. Sharon got him a fresh glass of water, a cool cloth, and the thermometer before climbing in bed on the other side and pulling him into her arms.

"I feel awful," Rusty moaned, burying his face into Sharon's shoulder.

"I know, honey. I'm so sorry. We're going to the doctor tomorrow."

"No doc-"

"Yes, doctor. Whether you like it or not." Sharon gently turned Rusty's head so she could feel his forehead again. "You're burning up." She slipped the thermometer into his mouth, her concern growing as the numbers hit 103 and kept climbing. It finally beeped at 103.6. It hadn't been nearly that high before he went to bed. She was starting to regret not taking him to the doctor the day before, but his temperature had finally started going down, so she'd thought he was finally on the mend. "Are you hot or cold?"

"Both...Your sheets are warm, though." Sharon tightened the covers around him and held him close to her with one arm while she wiped his face with the cloth in her other hand. Rusty rested his head on her shoulder, already feeling drowsy again. A few minutes later, Sharon put the cloth on her nightstand and pulled Rusty closer to her.

"Sharon, you're going to get sick."

"Honey. Harper coughed in my face for four days straight. If I didn't catch this virus from her, then I don't think I'll get it. You're not that contagious anymore, anyway."

"If you say so."

"I do."

Rusty got comfortable against Sharon and pulled the covers up to his nose. "Hmmmm, it smells like you in here."

Sharon narrowed her eyes at him. "That better be a good thing, young man."

"It is. I can't really describe it. It's just you. I would know it anywhere."

Sharon brushed Rusty's hair back from his face and kissed his burning forehead. "I'm glad you're so comfortable with me. Now, try to get some sleep. And _wake_ _me_ _up_ if you need me."

The next morning, Sharon got up with Harper and let her play for a while once she was fed and dressed for the day while she put Rusty's sheets and comforter in the washing machine and Lysoled the condo down as thoroughly as she could. She thought Rusty would probably sleep pretty late, since he had been up so much the night before. His cough still sounded bad and his forehead was still too hot, so she went ahead and called the doctor's office and made an appointment for him that afternoon. At 9:00, she left to take Harper to daycare, and Rusty hadn't stirred when she returned a little while later. After taking a quick shower, she put Rusty's linens in the dryer, got another cup of coffee for herself and a glass of Gatorade for Rusty, and got back in bed and read as he continued to sleep beside her.

"Cold," Rusty mumbled, eyes still closed, a few minutes later. He pressed into Sharon's side, trying to warm up. Sharon brushed his bangs back and rested her hand on his hot forehead.

"How are you feeling?"

"Hell."

"I'm sorry. We're going to the doctor this afternoon. Do you want some breakfast?" Rusty shook his head. "All right...But you need to drink something."

"Noooo, please stay with me," Rusty whined.

"Relax, Rusty, I have a glass of Gatorade for you right here. And some Tylenol." He sat up, swallowed the pills, and took a few sips of Gatorade, wincing as he swallowed.

"I know it hurts, honey." Sharon gave Rusty a sympathetic look as she took the glass from him and put it on her nightstand. "Do you think you can go back to sleep?" Rusty nodded and lay against her shoulder. "I could use a little nap, myself." Sharon straightened the covers over him and held him tightly to warm him up. When she woke up, it was almost noon, and she realized that Rusty needed to eat lunch and get dressed to go to the doctor. His appointment was at 1:30. She slipped out of bed and put some of his clean clothes in his bathroom and started the shower for him. She went back to her room, dreading waking Rusty up. "Wake up, honey. You need to get in the shower," Sharon murmured, gently shaking his shoulder.

"Noooo..."

"I'm sorry, honey, but you need to get dressed and eat lunch. We need to leave in less than an hour. Your shower is already running, and I put some clean sweats and underpants in your bathroom for you." Sharon knew the mention of 'underpants' would embarrass him enough to get him moving. "Or, we can sit here, and I can continue talking about underpants. And the fact that I wash yours when I do your laundry. Do you like the kind I've been buying for you? I-"

"Oh, my GOD, Sharon, I'm up. Happy?" Rusty jumped out of bed and moved as quickly as he could, which wasn't that fast, given his illness, toward his room. Sharon suppressed a laugh as she watched his retreating form. Teenagers. She put the last of the soup from Wednesday on the stove to heat up while she got herself dressed. By the time she had made Rusty's bed back up and made two bowls of soup, Rusty was shuffling into the kitchen. Sharon guided him to a bar stool and felt his forehead. "The Tylenol didn't help much this time," she noted, worriedly.

"I'm fine, Sharon, don't worry."

"You are not _fine_. But, I will worry less once we've seen Dr. Carlson." Sharon put a bowl of soup and a fresh glass of Gatorade in front of Rusty. "You don't have to eat all of that, but please try."

"'Kay."

A few minutes before 1:30, Sharon signed Rusty in at Dr. Carlson's office and led him to two empty chairs. He promptly snuggled against her shoulder, shivering against the chill of the air-conditioned waiting room. Sharon covered him with her cardigan, wishing she were wearing a long-sleeved shirt under it instead of a tank top, but she didn't really care. It wasn't revealing or anything, she was just kind of cold now. She could live with it, though, if it meant Rusty was a little more comfortable.

When Rusty's name was called, Sharon hesitated, not sure whether he wanted her to go back with him. She had gone with him the first time without question, because of the sheer look of terror that had been on his face from the moment they walked in the door. He seemed a little calmer this time, and she didn't want to make him uncomfortable. Rusty looked up at her when she didn't move right away.

"You're going back there with me, aren't you?"

"Of course, honey." Sharon stood and helped Rusty up and slipped back into her cardigan, happy that he still wanted her with him. Once his weight, blood pressure, and temperature had been checked, the nurse left Sharon and Rusty alone in the exam room. Sharon stood beside the exam table so Rusty could lean against her until the doctor came in.

"Rusty? Do you want me to find another doctor for you? When you had the flu, I hadn't really thought about you getting sick before, so I brought you to my doctor, since you weren't established with anyone yet. I can ask around and take you to meet a couple of others and let you pick one, if you would rather have a different doctor."

"No, no, he's great. I just don't love for strangers to touch me. I like him fine, and I'll get used to him."

"All right. Let me know if you change your mind."

Dr. Carlson came in a few minutes later. Sharon squeezed Rusty's shoulders, stepped away from him, and held his hand reassuringly. "Ah, Mr. Beck. You look pretty miserable, so I'll just cut to the chase. What's the problem today? Hi, Sharon, by the way." Sharon smiled and returned the greeting. Rusty gave Sharon a pleading look, begging her to speak for him, so Sharon described his symptoms to the doctor, as well as Harper's illness and the visit with her pediatrician. Dr. Carlson gently examined Rusty and made some notes on his chart.

"That sounds about right, but I want to do a flu test. Tamiflu wouldn't help at this point, but if it's negative, I want to do some bloodwork to rule some other things out, since he's still so sick." Rusty's grip on Sharon's hand tightened at the mention of bloodwork, and she patted his back. Dr. Carlson did the flu test and left the room, but returned ten minutes later with negative results. "Okay. It probably is just a nasty viral infection, but pneumonia is a concern, so, even if the bloodwork doesn't show anything, you need to rest and drink plenty of fluids. I'm sure Sharon's been making you do that, anyway, but seriously, don't get out of bed unless you have to. And try to stay elevated." He turned to Sharon and gave her some warning signs to look out for. "None of the blood tests require me to send a sample off, so I can do them in our office and call you this evening with results. You can check out while Rusty has his blood drawn."

Rusty looked at Sharon with a look of panic and squeezed her hand. Hard. "May I-Ouch! Rusty, good lord!-Go with him?" Sharon asked, prying Rusty's hand from hers.

"Oh, sure. That's not a problem." Dr. Carlson led them to another room to have Rusty's blood drawn before telling them goodbye.

"Honey, it only hurts a little bit," Sharon reassured Rusty as he sat nervously in a chair.

"It's not that...Needles...Just...Freak me out," he muttered, as the color drained from his face.

"Okay, but please, just try not to break my hand this time?"

Rusty managed a small smile. "I can't make any promises." Embarrassed, he looked at the lady waiting patiently to take his blood. "I'm sorry. I just-"

"Don't worry, honey. I've had grown men faint before they even sat down. You're doing pretty well." Rusty's eyes widened as she prepared the IV and wrapped a rubber band around his arm for better blood flow.

"Baby, don't look." Sharon pulled Rusty to her and held his face against her, patting his back. He flinched when the needle entered his arm. "Shh, honey, it's okay. It won't be there for long." Sharon helped Rusty up when the technician was finished and had placed gauze and a band-aid on his arm. "See? That wasn't so-"

"Don't even finish that sentence."

"Sorry. Let's go home." Sharon checked out at the front desk and helped Rusty to the car.

"You're not going to pick up Harper now?" Rusty asked, when Sharon prepared to turn left out of the parking lot.

"I thought I'd take you home first."

"No, that's stupid. Let's get her now."

"All right." Sharon turned right and headed for Harper's daycare. Halfway home, she realized that the same silver car had been behind her since they left the daycare. She didn't have a good feeling about it, so she circled her block several times, but the same car stayed behind her.

"What are you doing?" Rusty finally questioned Sharon's odd behavior on her fifth lap around her condo building.

"I think the car behind us is following us. Don't look. I'm going to call my team and see what they think." Sharon didn't know how else to answer, and Rusty needed to know if something was going on, anyway. She called the main line of Major Crimes, not sure who was there and who wasn't. Amy answered, and Sharon calmly voiced her concern.

"I would send patrol so they could run the license plate, but we're short today because of that rally downtown. Even if it isn't Charlotte, someone is obviously following you. Lt. Tao and I will meet you in your garage. Everyone else is with Chief Taylor."

"Thanks, Amy. I doubt she's armed, but you never know. Don't approach until I signal for you. I don't want to overwhelm her, especially if she has a gun. Text me when you get here."

"Okay. Be careful."

Sharon continued to drive in circles, taking slightly different routes, to ensure that the car behind her really was following her. When Amy texted that she and Mike were in her garage and where they were hiding, Sharon headed back to her condo.

"Listen to me, Rusty. I don't know what's about to happen, but someone is following us. _Do not_ get out of this car until Amy, Mike, or I tell you it's okay."

"Is that Harper's aunt behind us?"

"I don't know for sure, but probably so. There's a bullet-proof vest under the passenger seat... _Damn it_ , my gun is upstairs. Oh, well. She probably doesn't have a gun, but, just in case, put Harper's seat on the floor and get as low beside her as you can. I'll let my seat up before I get out. Cover yourselves with the vest and the blankets from Harper's bag as well as you can. _Stay low._ And _stay put_ until one of us comes for you. Do you hear me?"

Rusty nodded, wide-eyed. Once they had pulled into Sharon's parking space, with the silver car coming to a stop right behind them, Rusty obeyed Sharon's instructions, his anxiety growing as Sharon calmly stepped out of the car and locked them in. He sang silly songs to Harper, trying to keep her content. After a couple of minutes, Rusty couldn't take it anymore. His life with Sharon had been flashing before his eyes. The way she nursed his injuries when Daniel Dunn beat him up, came into his room and scratched his back when he couldn't sleep, talked to him and helped him with his problems, took care of him when he was sick...God, he couldn't lose her. He slowly rose just enough to peek into the garage through the back window. Sharon was trying to calm down a hysterical woman whom, he guessed, was Charlotte. She was waving a gun around, but obviously had no intent to use it. Her eyes were rolling wildly in her head, making him wonder if she was on some major drugs. Sharon distracted her long enough to grab the gun, after which she signaled to Amy and Mike. In her triumph over seizing the gun, Sharon didn't notice the knife in Charlotte's hand, but Rusty did. He quickly got out of the car, made sure Harper was locked in, and ran to Sharon.

"Noooo!" He screamed, jumping between Sharon and the knife, knocking Sharon and himself to the ground in the process. Amy and Mike, who had been approaching slowly and quietly, unaware of distress until they heard Rusty scream, both broke into a run and reached Charlotte. In the meantime, Sharon had struggled with Charlotte and taken the knife, slicing her own hand in the process. Now that Amy was handcuffing Charlotte and advising her of her rights, Sharon rushed back to Rusty, shocked to find him covered with blood.


	9. Chapter 9

Sharon was in a daze, and she felt like she was moving in slow motion. An eerie calmness had come over her, but she guessed that was better than being hysterical. She found herself on the ground with Rusty's head in her lap, holding her cardigan to the wound on his abdomen, with his discarded sweatshirt beside her. She had no memory of getting on the ground or taking her sweater off, but she hoped she was doing what she was supposed to do. Normally, she had a pretty good idea of whether a victim's injury was serious, but the victim had never been her child, and very little of her first-aid training was coming to her. She was vaguely aware of Amy advising Charlotte of her rights and hauling her away, but hadn't someone else come with her? Yes. Mike. He was calling 911, but where did he go? And what was she supposed to do about Harper?

Mike appeared beside Sharon and set Harper's car seat and diaper bag beside her. "Thanks, Mike. You must have read my mind."

"Not exactly. I just listened to you when you threw your keys at me and asked me to get Harper out of the car."

"I did?"

"Yes. Paramedics are on the way."

Sharon looked down at Rusty. His eyes were closed, but he was breathing. She vaguely remembered Mike looking at his wound and telling her something. "What did you say about Rusty again?"

"I don't think the wound looks too serious, and his pulse is strong. He probably just passed out from the pain and shock. It's probably a good thing that he's unconscious for right now."

"You checked his pulse? How long ago?"

"Maybe two minutes ago."

"Check it again." Sharon's brain was in too much of a fog for it to occur to her to check it herself.

Mike knelt beside Rusty and checked the pulse points in his wrist and neck. "He's going strong, ma'am. Now, is there anything else you'd like to throw at me, or can I take care of Rusty while you take care of your own hand?"

"Wha-" Sharon looked down at her hands and noticed her own wound for the first time. She was actually relieved, because she realized that Rusty wasn't bleeding as badly as she thought, as a good bit of the blood on her hands and sweater was her own. Mike gently removed her hands from the sweater and held it to Rusty's stomach himself.

"I've got this. Clean yourself up. There's nothing else we can do for him right now, but I don't see any reason to worry."

Sharon looked at Harper, who was watching them silently, wide-eyed. She got the container of Puffs from the diaper bag and poured some in Harper's lap, hoping they would keep her happy for a few more minutes. After cleaning her hands as well as she could with wet wipes, Sharon held one of Harper's burp cloths with her injured hand to contain the bleeding, then checked the report from daycare and realized that it was time for a bottle. She quickly mixed a bottle with formula and one of the small containers of bottled nursery water she kept in the diaper bag for situations like this, then put it on the ground behind her, hoping Harper would stay content until the paramedics arrived. Sharon turned her attention back to Rusty, who was starting to cough. Mike helped her turn him on his side, and she patted his back until he was finished.

"He's okay, right?" Sharon asked for the tenth time. She would have definitely been freaking out if Mike hadn't been with her to keep her thinking logically.

"As far as I know. I've seen stab wounds much worse than this that ended up being no big deal. I think he'll be okay."

Sharon briefly held Rusty's head up long enough to get a little more comfortable and settled him back in her lap. "He's so sick," she murmured, holding her non-injured hand to his hot forehead.

"He's a tough kid. He'll be all right."

" _Where_ are the paramedics?"

"I can hear them. They sound like they're just a couple of blocks away."

Sharon listened for a moment. "Oh, yes, I hear them now, too. How long has it been?"

"I called about ten minutes ago. Amy hadn't even left with Charlotte yet when I called, so it's only been about fifteen minutes since Rusty got hurt."

"That's all?"

Mike showed Sharon the recent calls in his phone. "That's all. It hasn't been long at all. Don't worry." He lifted Sharon's sweater to check Rusty's wound. "The bleeding has slowed down a lot. He's doing fine. Now, let me see your hand." He gently took Sharon's hand when she didn't move and examined her wound. "Not bad, but you should get it checked out at the hospital. I think you need stitches."

Sharon sighed in relief when the paramedics arrived a couple of minutes later. Once Rusty was loaded into the ambulance, one of the medics worked on him while the other one talked to Sharon and Mike. Sharon absently stroked Harper's hair with her less-bloodied hand as Harper fed herself her bottle, wishing she could get her out and hold her tight. She couldn't do that without getting blood all over Harper, though. With Mike answering as many of the medic's questions for her as he could, Sharon zoned out for a few moments.

"Captain, they're ready to take Rusty to St. Leo's. If you'll give me your keys, I'll let Harper finish her bottle and meet you there with her."

Sharon snapped back to attention. "Okay...Um...Wait, she's wet," she murmured, barely aware that she had even checked Harper's diaper.

"I'll change her before we leave. Don't worry. Diapers and wipes in her diaper bag?"

Sharon nodded. "She sometimes still needs to burp halfway through a bottle, so if she seems uncomfortable-"

"Ma'am. I've had three of these. We'll be fine. Rusty needs you now." Sharon nodded. She had taken Harper to work several times in the last few weeks to see the team, and she had warmed up to most of them by now, especially Mike and Amy.

"All Right. Has he woken up? Is he okay?"

"He's not awake, but the paramedics said he should be fine. If you want to go with them, I suggest you go now. They're getting impatient."

"Okay." Sharon kissed Harper's forehead, reluctant to leave her, but she knew she had to. "See you soon, sweetheart. I love you." Mike helped her off of the ground and into the waiting ambulance, where Rusty was still being worked on. She felt a little better seeing him cleaned up and the bleeding stopped, but she didn't like being in an ambulance with her son. At least he was alive and was going to be okay. Not sure whether it was okay to touch him, she grabbed the hand closest to her, since the paramedic was working from the other side. The medic didn't look old enough to have even graduated high school, but he was confident and efficient in his movements as he talked to someone through a radio. Sharon wasn't paying that close attention, until she heard the words _16-year-old male. Stab victim_. Her heart jumped up into her throat. She had heard those words spoken countless times before, but, more times than not, the teenager didn't make it out alive. She continued listening to the conversation as the ambulance started moving.

"Were you able to contact the parents?"

"Yes. Mom's riding in." Sharon zoned out again and concentrated on stroking Rusty's hand, hoping he somehow knew that she was with him. He just had to be okay. When they arrived at the hospital, Sharon was cleaned up and bandaged by a nurse, then sent to the waiting room to fill out paperwork while they ran tests and got Rusty ready to go to a room. Her hands were shaking too badly to fill out the paperwork, so she gave up for the time being and called her mom. She needed to hear her mother's voice, and she lost it when her mom answered the phone. Sharon broke down and sobbed, trying to explain what happened.

"Sharon, honey, I'll get on the next available flight. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"I'm sorry, Mo-"

"Stop it. You're shaken up, and rightfully so, and you'll need help with Harper. I've been wanting to visit, anyway."

Sharon looked up and saw Mike come in the waiting room with Harper in his arms. "Thanks, Mom. Mike's here with Harper, I need to go."

"Okay. I'll call you tonight. I love you."

"Love you." Sharon ended the call and stood up.

"Ma-ma!" Harper exclaimed, reaching for Sharon.

Sharon took Harper from Mike and hugged her tightly, stroking her blonde curls. "There's my baby girl. I'm so glad you're okay." She had managed to somewhat compose herself, but her tears were still flowing, and she still had intermittent gasping breaths. She kissed Harper's forehead and held her close. Harper squirmed in Sharon's arms, having no idea what was going on and not enjoying being held so tightly. Sharon loosened her grip and sat back down, trying to balance the clipboard and Harper in her lap.

"I'll do that, ma'am." Mike took the clipboard and pen from Sharon and gave her a handkerchief from his pocket.

"Thanks, Mike. I obviously didn't get very far, anyway." She gave Mike her insurance card and answered questions when he had them, and the forms were completed several minutes later.

Mike returned a few moments later from giving the receptionist the clipboard. "A nurse should be here in a few minutes to take you to Rusty's room." His gaze shifted to Sharon's bandaged hand. "You didn't need stitches?"

"They said something about it, but I'm okay. I wanted to be out here when you got here with Harper." Sharon shivered, realizing that she was no longer wearing her cardigan. Her favorite sweater was now covered in blood and had been disposed of in the trash can outside the entrance to the emergency room, and her tank top was doing nothing against the cold air conditioning in the waiting zoom. Mike took his jacket off and draped it over her shoulders.

"I'll go to the gift shop and see if I can find a sweatshirt or something." Mike returned a few minutes later with a gray sweatshirt, and Sharon gratefully slipped it over her head, balancing Harper on her knees.

"Thanks so much. It's freezing in here. I'll pay you back before you go." Sharon looked down at Harper, surprised that she was being so still. "Harp, I'm surprised you're not fighting me to get dow-hmmm..." Sharon noticed Harper's heavy eyes and the death grip she now had on Sharon's hair, so she checked her watch. It was 4:30. "You're probably ready for a little nap." She covered Harper with a blanket from her bag, held the baby to her shoulder, and gently bounced her. Harper fell asleep pretty quickly, and holding the sleeping baby seemed to help Sharon calm down. She sat in silence for a few minutes until a nurse called her name. She gave Sharon a bag with Rusty's bloody sweatpants and underwear in it and led her and Mike through the hospital to Rusty's room. Sharon tossed the bag into the first trash can she saw, not wanting to see those clothes ever again, even if she were able to get the blood stains out.

"Dr. Hayes will be here shortly. She's going over Rusty's imaging and test results. We believe the wound is superficial, but she'll come examine him herself and confirm that. "He's sedated right now, but he should be coming around in the next hour or so. Press the call button if you need anything."

"Thanks," Sharon murmured. She hurried to Rusty's bed and stood beside him, brushing his bangs back from his hot forehead with the hand that wasn't holding Harper. Mike sat in a chair, not really sure what to do. He debated whether to offer to hold Harper while she slept, but Sharon looked like she needed her hands on both of her children.

"Captain?"

"Please. Sharon. We're not at work."

"Okay...I'll hold Harper if she starts getting heavy."

"Thanks, Mike. I'm okay for now." Sharon turned back to Rusty and pulled the sheet up to his shoulders, hoping he wasn't cold.

"Ms. Beck?" Sharon tore her eyes away from Rusty's frail form and saw a lady, a little taller than her with auburn hair, who she guessed was Dr. Hayes.

"Oh, I'm Sharon Raydor. Rusty is my foster son."

"I am so sorry. I knew you would be eager for news, so I've only skimmed through his chart for allergies and a couple of other things I needed to know right away."

"Is he all right?" Sharon asked anxiously.

"He should be fine. I'm going to examine him before I decide the best method for closing him up, which will determine how long he has to stay here. There are no signs of internal bleeding or other complications, so infection is my main concern at the moment."

Sharon sighed with relief. Infection was the worst-case scenario right now. Infection is treatable. Dr. Hayes looked at Rusty appraisingly when he started coughing and noticed his flushed cheeks. She instinctively held her hand to his forehead and looked at Sharon. "This isn't normally something I would wish upon a patient, but please tell me he's been sick."

Sharon smiled. "Yes. We were actually coming home from Dr. Carlson's office when he got hurt. He's had a viral infection since Monday, but Dr. Carlson was afraid that he might be getting pneumonia."

"Has his fever been this high since Monday?"

"No. It went down to 101 Wednesday night, and he was feeling a little better, but he woke up feeling worse late last night. I got up with him, and his temperature had gone back up to 103. That's why Dr. Carlson was afraid he was coming down with pneumonia."

"Okay. We'll have to watch him closely for signs of infection, and I'd like to keep him until he's feeling a little better. And coughing may complicate the healing process, so I'll keep an eye on him and prescribe some cough syrup, if necessary. Dr. Carlson probably didn't do that, did he?" Sharon shook her head. "I didn't think so. Rusty's cough isn't that severe, but if it seems to aggravate his wound, then I'll give him some." Dr. Hayes gently removed the dressings from Rusty's abdomen and examined the wound. "The best thing to do is to allow the wound to heal on its own from the inside before I put stitches in. I'm going to put sterile gauze in his wound and keep it bandaged, but I'll need to change the gauze daily for about a week before I stitch it up. If everything goes well, you should be able to take him home once he's not so sick. You can bring him back to me to have his gauze changed after that until he's ready for stitches."

Dr. Hayes got the supplies she needed and had Rusty bandaged up again a little while later. "Press the call button when Rusty wakes up. I want to make sure his pain is under control as soon as he's awake. He was slightly dehydrated, so he's getting fluids and pain medicine through his IV. That should help bring his fever down a little in the next few hours. Otherwise, his nurse will be in to check on him frequently, and she'll let me know when he wakes up."

"Thank you."

"Doctor? I'm sorry to interrupt, but would you mind taking a look at the Captain's hand? She needs stitches, but she wouldn't stay in the ER long enough for that earlier."

" _Lieutenant_ -"

"Humor me. Don't look at me like that, we're off duty. I'm here as a friend."

"Mike and I both work for the LAPD. He and another detective came to help when I realized we were in danger," Sharon explained. She patted Harper's back as she continued to sleep on her shoulder. "And this is Harper. My division investigated the deaths of her parents, and I took her home with me the night they died, expecting to just have temporary custody until her relatives were found. Her aunt was her only living relative and had been granted custody, but she didn't want Harper. Long story short, she's mentally ill and lost custody and visitation rights of her own children, so she found Harper and became obsessed with her. She watched us for several days before following us home today. I called for backup, locked Harper and Rusty in the car, and tried to reason with the woman. Rusty saw that she had a knife before I did and tried to keep her from hurting me. I got cut while I was trying to get the knife out of her hand."

"That's terrible! I heard bits and pieces of the story while I was reviewing Rusty's test results, and a summary of how his injury occurred is in his chart, but I couldn't figure out his relationship with the assailant." Dr. Hayes took Sharon's hand, removed the bandage, and examined her cut. "This does need stitches. I can do it right here, but I'll need you to fill out some paperwork. Sit down, I'll be right back."

"That's fine. Thank you." Dr. Hayes left briefly and returned with a clipboard and some supplies. Mike filled out Sharon's forms for her while the doctor worked on her hand. The wound was between her thumb and forefinger, so once the doctor was finished, she gave Sharon a brace to immobilize her thumb so she wouldn't move it too much and aggravate her stitches. Once Sharon was bandaged again and wearing the brace, Dr. Hayes left again, and Harper was starting to wake up. She sat up, gave the room a disinterested look, and lay back down on Sharon's shoulder, still drowsy.

"Hi, my sweet girl. You decided to wake up?"

"Sharon? Amy just texted to see if you need her to keep Harper tonight."

"Oh, my god, I haven't even thought about that."

"I'll tell her you do. You're not going to want to leave Rusty, and Harper really likes Amy."

"You're probably right. Tell her she can stay at my condo, if she doesn't mind. That will be easier than packing everything for Harper to stay at Amy's." Sharon gave Harper a hug and kissed her forehead. She was becoming more awake, so Sharon turned her around and bounced her on her knees. Harper smiled widely when she saw Mike.

"Hi, princess! How was your nap? Will you come see me?" She reached happily for Mike when he held his hands out to her and picked her up. "Good girl. Let's give Mommy a little break. We'll go for a walk if you get fussy, how's that?"

"She should be ready for something to eat. I hope I have something in her bag." Sharon dug through Harper's diaper bag and produced a jar of baby food and a spoon. "Mmmm, I found some bananas!" While Mike was feeding Harper, Sharon went back to Rusty's bed. He was fidgeting uncomfortably and moaning softly, so she pressed the call button, sat on his bed, and stroked his forehead.

Rusty slowly became conscious of his surroundings, but he wasn't quite ready to open his eyes. He guessed from the smell that he was in the hospital. The afternoon's events slowly came back to him. He realized that he didn't know whether Sharon was okay, and he hoped to God that the hand on his forehead belonged to her. He took a few breaths and could smell Sharon's perfume and the lotion that's always on her hands. Relieved, he touched her hand and felt around it, trying to figure out which side of him she was on.

Sharon moved closer to Rusty on his bed when she realized he was trying to find her. "Hi, baby. I'm right here."

Rusty opened his eyes. "You're okay?"

Sharon leaned down and kissed his forehead, not liking how hot he still felt. "Of course I am. You're the one I'm worried about, but you're going to be okay, too."


	10. Chapter 10

Sharon brushed Rusty's bangs back from his forehead, more convinced that he was going to be okay now that he was awake. He was groggy and a little confused, but she wasn't nearly as worried as she had been before he woke up.

"Time izzit?"

Sharon looked at her watch. "It's almost 6:00."

"Is it still Friday?"

Sharon smiled. "Yes, honey. It feels like it should be midnight, though. It's been a long day. Do you remember what happened?"

"Yeah, most of it..." Rusty's eyes widened. "Oh, my god, your sweater..."

"Rusty! Don't even think about that. I couldn't care less about a stupid sweater." Sharon looked at him with concern when he shifted uncomfortably. "Are you okay? Are you warm enough? Do you need anything?"

"I, um..."

"What is it? Rusty?! What? Are you hurting? The nurse will be here soon, she may need to adjust your pain medicine."

"I have to...Um...Pee really bad."

"Oh! I'm sure you do. Can you wait a few minutes for the nurse?" Rusty nodded, looking embarrassed. "Honey, don't be embarrassed. I'm surprised you were able to wait this long. Let me know if it's an emergency, and I'll give you the bedpan and go out into the hall. Will you be able to use it by yourself, if you need to?"

"Oh, my _god_ , Sharon, yes."

"Are you sure? Mike's here, and he can help you with the bedpan if you need it."

"I'm sure. But I can wait," he grumbled.

"Okay. The bedpan is right beside the bed, so just let us know if you need for us to leave before the nurse gets here."

"Ugh, please stop saying _bedpan_." Rusty shifted again and realized that he felt a little too bare against his bed. "Um, where are my clothes?"

"They had blood on them, so I had to throw them out...Oh, no, I just realized that your shoes were probably in that bag, too. And I guess your sweatshirt is still on the ground in the parking garage. I'll run home either tonight or tomorrow morning and get some clothes and things for both of us."

Kelly, Rusty's nurse, arrived a moment later. "Hi, Rusty. How-"

"He needs to use the toilet," Sharon spoke up. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's urgent."

"Okay. I'll take care of it." Sharon signaled to Mike, knowing Kelly would probably ask them to leave the room, so he closed the jar of baby food he was feeding to Harper and set it on the table beside him, much to Harper's dismay. She didn't know whether Kelly was going to help Rusty to the bathroom or have him use the bed pan, but, since he wasn't wearing anything under his gown, he needed privacy, either way.

"We'll go down to the gift shop and find something for you to wear under your gown until I can go home and get some clothes for you." When they returned, Rusty was more alert, and Dr. Hayes was with him. Mike sat down with Harper and continued feeding her while Sharon sat on Rusty's bed. He started coughing, so she helped him sit up and patted his back. There was a cup of water on the table beside his bed, so she helped him take a few sips. "I found some sweatpants for both of us. I got toothbrushes, toothpaste, and shower stuff, too."

"Ugh, can I please take a shower? I feel gross. And I smell like alcohol. Or whatever they cleaned me with."

"Not yet," Dr. Hayes answered. "Maybe tomorrow. I can give you a quick bed bath, though, if that will help you feel better. Kelly's shift is almost over, and she needs to finish her charts, so I won't ask her to do it."

"Ummm..." Rusty looked uneasily at Sharon.

"You took a shower this morning, so you're mostly clean," Sharon pointed out. "Dr. Hayes can probably just bathe you where you need it, and you can stay covered up. I'm sure your back is dirty from lying on the ground, but other than that, just having your stomach and arms cleaned off will probably help a lot."

"Yeah...My back is the worst."

"I can do that. We don't have to do this if you're not comfortable with it, though. Whatever you want to do is fine."

"No, that sounds good," Rusty agreed.

Sharon fished her phone out of her purse when she heard it going off. "It's Dr. Carlson's office, calling with your blood test results. I'll be right back." She kissed Rusty's forehead and walked into the hall with her phone.

Dr. Hayes got a pair of sweatpants from the gift shop bag. "Do you want to bathe your legs at all? I'll draw the curtain around your bed and leave you alone so you can do it yourself, if you want to.

"Nah, they feel okay."

Dr. Hayes helped Rusty put the sweatpants on, now that Sharon wasn't in the room and Mike was occupied with Harper. "Would you rather your mo-guardian clean you up? I'm happy to do it, but you guys seem to be pretty close, so if you would be more comfortable with her, that's all right. It's up to you."

"If you do it, can, um, Sharon sit with me?" Rusty asked shyly. "I'm cold." He also just wanted her beside him, but he wasn't about to admit that.

"Of course." Dr. Hayes covered Rusty with an extra blanket. "Better?" He nodded. She gently brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Your fever's coming down some. That's good."

"I do feel a little better...You're not going to put that needle back in my arm, are you?"

"No. As long as you drink water when we tell you to and don't have any trouble with the pain medicine, I won't torture you with an IV. Speaking of which, go ahead and finish this," she instructed, giving him his cup of water. "You were a little dehydrated, so you need to drink eight ounces of water for every hour that you're awake."

"Thanks...Lieutenant, will you please bring Harper over here for a minute? I've hardly seen her today." Mike sat on Rusty's non-injured side and placed Harper on the bed in front of him. "Hey, sweet girl." Harper grinned and crawled up beside Rusty.

"Hi, Harper! You were asleep when I was in here earlier. You are adorable!"

Rusty looked at Dr. Hayes, confused. "You've already been in here?"

"Yes. You were also asleep. How old is she?"

"She'll be nine months old next week." A few moments later, an unpleasant odor met Rusty's nose. "Ugh, Harps, what is it about me that makes you do that? Every. Time."

Mike looked over at Harper. "I'll cha-oh, God, that's not good." Harper had filled her diaper to capacity, and the excess contents had soiled her dress and Rusty's sheets. Rusty quickly moved his blanket out of the line of fire, grateful that it was still clean. His stomach turned at the sight before him and the odor, which was worse than usual.

"Nice, Harp. That's lady-like. We're going to need Sharon for this one." Dirty diapers didn't usually bother Rusty, but he had been feeling a little nauseous already. He suppressed a gag and pushed Harper toward Mike, but he wasn't any more eager than Rusty to be near Harper at the moment. "Good lord, that's foul." Mike held onto her so she wouldn't move around and spread the mess, but he kept as much distance between them as he could. Dr. Hayes was doubled over, laughing hysterically at the looks of horror on Mike's and Rusty's faces, and the look of innocent confusion on Harper's face. She clearly couldn't see what the big deal was. Rusty was relieved when Sharon came back into the room a moment later. "Um, Sharon, we have a situation over here. Code blowout."

Dr. Hayes's laughter was contagious, and Sharon started laughing, too. Both women composed themselves a few moments later, and Sharon dug through Harper's diaper bag for extra clothes, a diaper, a small bag for the soiled diaper, and wipes.

"You're going to need the rash ointment, too," Mike told Sharon. "I put some on her when I changed her earlier, but she probably needs more. It's in the side pocket."

"Thanks, Mike." Sharon pulled Harper's dress off of her, carefully removed her diaper, and disposed of it in the bag. Mike took the bag from her and threw it away, and Sharon started wiping Harper down with wet wipes. "Harp, girl, you have outdone yourself this time." Once Harper was cleaned up, Sharon dabbed some ointment on her rash, put a clean diaper on her, and slipped another dress over her head. "There we go! All clean."

Mike took Harper so Sharon could help Dr. Hayes pull Rusty's sheets out from under him. Sharon looked down at Rusty, who had started coughing again. "Your bloodwork was fine. This is just a particularly nasty virus, but Dr. Carlson is still worried about it developing into pneumonia. Especially now that you're in the hospital."

Dr. Hayes put the sheets on the floor in the corner. "I'll take those with me when I leave, and I'll send an orderly with clean sheets."

"I'm so sorry about the mess," Sharon apologized. "Harper hasn't done anything like that in a couple of months."

"It's not a problem. I was going to have Rusty sit in a chair to eat dinner so his sheets could be changed, anyway, since I'm going to bathe him." Dr. Hayes straightened Rusty's blanket over him. "I need to run downstairs and get some soap."

"You can use the soap I bought downstairs, unless you have to use a certain kind. I need to wash my hands before I touch anything else, but the soap is in the bag if you can use it." Sharon took Harper's dress to the bathroom to soak it in cold water, then thoroughly washed her hands.

"Okay, great. Thanks."

Sharon returned from the bathroom and climbed into bed beside Rusty. He lay on her shoulder, feeling drowsy again. She held her hand to his forehead, relieved that he didn't feel quite as hot. Dr. Hayes approached the bed with a few wash cloths, a towel, and a basin of soapy, lukewarm water. Sharon looked down at Rusty. "Do you want me to get up?"

"No, please stay. I'm cold."

"All right. Let me know if you want me to get up. I understand that this might feel a little awkward."

Mike walked toward the door to the hall with Harper in his arms. "Sharon? I'm going to go walk around with Harper for a little while. She's getting restless."

"Okay, thanks so much...But you can leave whenever you're ready. I should have told you that a while ago, I'm sorry."

"I brought your car here from your condo, remember? With Harper? But Andy and Provenza are coming by soon, and they have to go back to work for a little while after that, so one of them is bringing my car, and they'll ride back together. Don't worry about it. I'm glad I could help." Mike left the room with Harper before Sharon could respond.

Dr. Hayes gently removed Rusty's gown. "Okay, honey, I'm going to wipe down your stomach, back, chest, and arms, rinse you with another wet cloth, and then dry you off. Stop me at any time if you get uncomfortable. If you're really uncomfortable and just want to do the rest yourself, that's fine, too. I know you're feeling weak, and I can do it faster, but don't hesitate to stop me if you want to." Rusty nodded. "I'll do the hard part first." Dr. Hayes gently turned Rusty on his side and helped him lean against Sharon. "Are you okay? Does this hurt?"

"It's fine." Rusty closed his eyes as the doctor ran the cloth over his shoulder blades and down his back. He didn't expect it to feel so comforting, especially since he barely knew this doctor.

"Rusty, I need to lower the waistband of your pants just a little bit. You'll still be completely covered up, and it will just take a few seconds. You okay?" Rusty nodded. Once his back was rinsed and dried off, Dr. Hayes helped him lie on his back again. "Do you want me to keep going, or do you want to do it?"

"You can keep going." It wasn't nearly as bad as Rusty thought it was going to be. "Okay. I know you're cold, so I'll go as fast as I can." Sharon wrapped her arms around him, moving out of the way when necessary, trying to keep him warm. Dr. Hayes finished a few minutes later and covered him with the blanket. "Is that better?"

"Much. Thank you."

"You're welcome. We want you to be comfortable, so don't be shy about asking any of us for help." Rusty nodded. "I'll make sure the orderly brings you a fresh gown and extra blankets when he comes to put clean sheets on your bed." Rusty started to say something, but he sat up and started coughing violently. Sharon patted his back, and Dr. Hayes watched him with concern as he held his side where his wound was. "I'm going to prescribe some cough medicine for you...You haven't coughed anything up, have you?" He shook his head. "Good. Kelly should be here with your dinner soon, and I'll be back to check on you in the morning, but press the call button if you need anything. I'm not sure yet who your night nurse will be, but he or she will give you a pain pill and some cough medicine before bed. Feel better, Rusty."

"Thanks," Rusty mumbled, getting comfortable on Sharon's shoulder. Dr. Hayes fondly patted Rusty's back and left the room. Kelly came in as the doctor was leaving and set a tray of soup and cornbread on a table, then helped Rusty out of bed and into a chair at the table. An orderly with a bundle of linens in his arms came in a few minutes after Kelly, quickly made up Rusty's bed, and left with the dirty sheets in his arms.

"You need to eat at least half of this," Kelly instructed as Rusty took a tentative bite. He grimaced. The soup was actually pretty good, he just didn't have an appetite. When he had finally forced down the required amount, Kelly helped him back into bed. "My shift is almost up, but I'll be back in the morning. Carol will be your nurse tonight, and she'll be in to give you more medicine around 9:00. If you're ready to go to sleep before then, or if you need anything else, press the call button."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. Feel better."

A few minutes after Kelly left, Mike returned with Harper, followed by Provenza, Andy, Buzz, Julio, and Amy, who were armed with flowers, a pizza, and a few grocery bags. Sharon suddenly realized she was starving. The soup she had eaten for lunch was long gone. "Thanks so much, you guys. My stomach is eating itself. This is too much." Sharon took the flowers from Buzz and put them beside Rusty's bed.

Andy put the pizza and the grocery bags with paper plates, napkins, various snacks, and several small bottles of soda and water on the table. "It's our treat. We knew you hadn't even thought about eating. We're not staying, we just wanted to say hello." Sharon was relieved. It was great to see everyone, but she was very overwhelmed. She was more than ready for some peace and quiet. They all chatted for a few minutes before everyone, except Amy and Mike, left. Sharon fixed two plates of pizza, gave one to Mike, and took Harper from him.

"Amy? Pizza?"

"No, thanks, I had pizza last night. I'm just going to have something delivered later, I'm not sure what I want yet."

"Rusty? Do you want to try to eat some? Kelly said you don't have any dietary restrictions, and I'd feel better if you ate a little more. And drink your water."

"Yeah, that actually sounds good." Sharon gave Rusty the plate she had fixed for herself and got another plate of pizza. She sat at the table and held Harper in her lap while she ate. "Do you mind staying at my condo?" She asked Amy. "You're welcome to take Harper to your place, I just thought this would be easier than packing her things. And she'll probably sleep better in her crib than her pack and play."

"Not at all. I would end up forgetting to pack something important, anyway."

Harper watched Sharon expectantly as she ate her pizza and whimpered after a few moments when she wasn't offered a bite. Sharon and Rusty had started giving Harper bites of their own food at dinner on nights that she cooked, so now Harper thought she was entitled to a bite any time either Sharon or Rusty were eating something. "You just ate, little piglet! You can't have pizza, anyway."

Mike finished his pizza and threw his plate away. "I'm heading out, but do you need anything?"

"No, thanks, we should be fine until tomorrow. We'll probably be going to bed soon, and I'll go home first thing in the morning to pack bags for us and let Amy go home. Thanks so much for helping me today. You kept me sane."

"I'm glad I could help. I'll come visit tomorrow."

"Okay. I'll have some money, then. I still owe you for this sweatshirt." Sharon had used the last of her cash in the gift shop earlier, not thinking about having to pay Mike back.

"Don't worry abo-"

"Yes, I will. Good Night, and thanks again. I will make this up to you."

"You're welcome. I hope you guys are able to rest."

Once Mike was gone, Sharon gave Amy some general instructions for Harper and explained her bedtime routine. "Rusty makes fun of me for it, but she goes to bed so easily with it. Even if she doesn't fall asleep right away, she doesn't cry. She may be a little out of sorts since she hasn't been away from us for bedtime since I've had her, but the routine should calm her down if she gets fussy. The sound machine helps a lot, too."

"We'll be fine. Don't worry."

"I know you will. If you don't mind leaving your car here tonight, let's just trade cars. I'm not in the mood to try to move that car seat. I'll come home early, so I can be packed when Harper wakes up. She sleeps from 8 to 8, at a minimum, when I don't have to wake her up so I can get to work. I want to make sure I get back before Rusty wakes up."

"That's fine. But why don't I just come back with Harper in the morning? You can sleep in a little and not have to worry about Rusty waking up by himself, and I can stay here with him and Harper while you go home. You may even need a little nap. Rusty might have a rough night."

"True..."

"I'll leave my keys with you in case you need something before we get here in the morning, and I'll come with Harper as soon as she's been fed and dressed."

"Thanks, Amy. I owe you big time. She'll want a bottle as soon as she wakes up, and then I usually give her some Cheerios. You can sleep wherever you want. There's a bed in Harper's room that I slept in twice last week when she was sick. I haven't changed those sheets yet, but they should be safe from germs." Sharon had gotten the bed out of storage when they moved into the bigger condo so she would have an extra bed for guests, but she realized it also came in handy for when Harper was sick. "The sheets on Rusty's bed are clean, and his room has been drenched in Lysol. I don't mind at all if you sleep in my bed, but Rusty got in my bed late last night and stayed there until noon, so my bed is probably the germiest of the three. I'll feel awful if you get sick. I did a pretty big cleaning job in the rest of the condo yesterday, so you should be fine. I will more than make it up to you if you do get sick."

"I'm not worried about it. Are you ready to go home, Harper? It's almost your bedtime."

Sharon hugged Harper tight and kissed her forehead. "Night-night, baby girl. Mommy loves you. Be sweet for Amy." She carried Harper to Rusty's bed so he could kiss her goodnight before reluctantly handing her over to Amy.

"Call me if you have any trouble at all. And help yourself to any food, drinks, wine, or whatever that you want. You stopped at home to get clothes and things, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay. If you forgot something that I might have, you're welcome to look around. Make yourself at home."

"Thanks. We'll see you in the morning."

When Amy and Harper were gone, Sharon finished her pizza and cleaned up the trash that had accumulated. There were three pieces of pizza left, so she decided to see if Rusty's nurse wanted any before she threw it out. She got her sweatpants, both toothbrushes, and toothpaste from the gift shop bag and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed. It wasn't quite 8:00, but she was exhausted, and Rusty looked like he was, too. When she was finished in the bathroom, she climbed into bed beside Rusty. "Are you ready to go to bed?"

"Yes. Please." Sharon had barely pressed the call button before Rusty was lying against her shoulder. She felt his forehead, and he felt about the same.

"Are you still hungry? Do you want another piece of pizza?" Rusty shook his head. "The nurse has to come give you medicine and help you to the bathroom, but you can go to sleep right after that."

"'Kay."

The nurse came in a few moments later. "Hi, Rusty. I'm Carol. Are you ready for bed?" Rusty nodded miserably. Carol took his blood pressure and stuck a thermometer in his mouth. "102. Slowly, but surely, moving in the right direction." She gave him a glass of water, a pain pill, and a spoonful of cough medicine. "All right, I'll help you to the bathroom, and then you can go to sleep. If you wake up later and need to go again, you can either press the call button for me or wake up your mom to help you. We'll just walk you to the toilet, leave, and come back for you when you're finished. If it's urgent, the bedpan is on the table beside you. You don't need to get out of bed by yourself, okay?" Rusty nodded.

Carol walked Rusty into the bathroom and left him alone, closing the door behind her. Sharon was still a little hungry, so she got up and got another piece of pizza for herself and offered Carol the remaining two slices. "Thank you," Carol said gratefully. "I woke up late and didn't have time to eat before I came." A few minutes later, Carol was finished with her pizza and got up when she heard the toilet flush and the sink turn on. When she heard the sink turn off a couple of minutes later, she opened the bathroom door and helped Rusty back to bed. "Press the call button if you need anything, and I'll have someone bring a cot for you," Carol told Sharon as she left the room.

"Thank you." Sharon straightened the blankets over Rusty and pulled him close to her. "Are you warm enough?"

"Yeah."

"Wake me up tonight if you wake up. I'll be right beside your bed."

"'Kay."

Sharon brushed Rusty's hair back and kissed his forehead. Goodnight, honey. I love you."

"You, too," he murmured, getting comfortable before he fell asleep on her shoulder. Sharon watched Rusty sleep for a while, barely noticing when an orderly brought a made-up cot and a pillow for her. She reluctantly laid Rusty down and dragged the cot as close to the bed as she could get it. She got between the sheets and reached over to place her hand on Rusty's arm, and she fell asleep almost immediately.


	11. Chapter 11

_**Thanks so much for the views/follows/favorites/reviews!**_

 _ **I'm sorry, Shandy fans, but I set this story between the first and second seasons so I could avoid Shandy. I'm a fan of it on the show, but fanfic is overrun with it, and I thought I couldn't be the only one who likes a break from it every now and then :)**_

Sharon woke up later Friday night when she heard Rusty calling her name. It took several moments to remember where she was and why. After sitting up and taking inventory of her surroundings, she realized Rusty was dreaming. Sharon turned a lamp on, climbed into his bed, and wrapped her arms tightly around him.

"Shh, honey, it's all right. I'm right here," Sharon murmured, running her fingers through Rusty's hair, trying to soothe him. After thrashing around in her arms for a few minutes, he finally woke up and looked up at Sharon.

"Shar...Oh, my god, I thought I'd lost you."

"You thought you'd lost me? Honey. I'm not the one in a hospital bed. Well, as a patient, anyway. You gave me quite a scare, yourself."

"I'm sor-"

"Shh, you haven't done anything wrong. We're all okay, and that's all that matters." Sharon brushed Rusty's bangs back from his face, pausing on his forehead to assess his temperature. "You still feel hot...I wonder if you can take some more medicine now." Sharon checked her watch on the bedside table and pressed the call button when she saw that it was almost 2:00. They had both been asleep for almost six hours. Carol, Rusty's night nurse, arrived several moments later.

"You guys okay?"

"Yes...I was just wondering if Rusty could have more medicine now."

"I thought that was probably what you wanted." Carol helped Rusty sit up and checked his vital signs, then got a glass of water for him and gave him his medicine. "Need anything else?"

"I don't think so. Thank you."

Once Carol was gone, Sharon tucked the covers back around Rusty and helped him get settled. "Do you think you can go back to sleep?"

"I don't know...I feel like I've been sleeping forever."

"Do you need anything?"

"I'm good." Rusty lay on Sharon's shoulder and made himself comfortable. "How do you think Harps did with Amy?"

"Oh, my...I hope she did okay, because I passed out not long after you did. I haven't even thought to look at my phone." Sharon looked around for her phone and retrieved it from her cot, where it was wedged between the mattress and the frame. Amy had texted her at 8:30, but it was just a picture of the baby monitor's screen, showing Harper sleeping. She showed the picture to Rusty. "She must have done pretty well."

"Good...I still don't see how she sleeps like that."

Sharon looked at the image of Harper lying on her stomach, knees tucked under her, with her bottom in the air. "I know, that looks painful. Ricky slept the same way, though. Emily always slept tucked into a ball in the corner of her crib. That didn't look very comfortable, either."

Rusty looked wistfully at Harper's sleeping form. "My mom probably has no idea how I slept when I was a baby."

Sharon looked sadly at Rusty and stroked his hair. "You're always in a different position any time I see you sleeping...But your cold feet always manage to find me if I'm beside you."

" _My_ cold feet?! We can't sit on the couch for more than, like, two seconds without the ice blocks attached to your ankles becoming wedged under me."

"Ugh, whine about it."

"Hey, you started it," Rusty said, with a small smile. "So, how did Charlotte find Harper?"

"Private investigator. Whoever contacted her about Harper to begin with must have told her that Harper was in the custody of a LAPD officer, so I probably wasn't that hard to find. She had clearly been watching us for a few days. She knew about you, and she said something about my 'perfect family.' I don't think she had it in her to really hurt me, though. She obviously didn't know how to use that gun, and she looked shocked when she realized you were hurt. I think she was just trying to frighten me, which was why I had Amy and Mike stay hidden. It could have ended very differently if we had overwhelmed her."

"I know I was supposed to stay in the car, but I could tell you didn't see her knife, and -and-"

"Shh, darling, it's all right." Sharon gently wiped away the tears that had started to stream down Rusty's face with her thumbs. "Do you think you can go back to sleep now?" God, she hoped so. She could barely hold her eyes open.

"Yeah...Will you, um..."

"Stay with you until you fall asleep? Any time."

When Rusty was finally sleeping on her shoulder, Sharon kissed his forehead and moved back to her cot. She slept fitfully until she woke up at 5:00 on Saturday morning and couldn't go back to sleep, so she read for a while until she became drowsy again, and lay back down. She woke up again at 8:00 to Rusty shaking her shoulder and urgently calling her name.

"Rusty? What is it?" Sharon sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"I'm going to throw up." Sharon sprang into action as Rusty covered his mouth and tried to suppress a gag. She found a basin and put it in his lap just as he started getting sick and walked into the bathroom. Rusty was surprised when he felt a cold cloth brush across his forehead and Sharon's familiar hand patting his back a few moments later. He just thought she had left because she was grossed out, and rightfully so. "Shar-go 'way-gross-" Rusty gasped between heaves.

"Honey. It's going to take more than a little vomit to scare me away. I'm not leaving you." Sharon continued patting his back and wiping his face until Rusty's stomach finally calmed down. "Do you think you're done for now?" Rusty nodded, still embarrassed. "All right. Rinse your mouth out." Sharon handed him his cup of water and got up, basin in hand, after he did so. "I'll be right back."

"Wait, Sharon, just help me to the bathroom, and I'll clean it out. That's gross."

"Please. I could clean up vomit in my sleep. And, sick messes are my responsibility. Not yours."

"Actually, they're my responsibility." Kelly, the same nurse from the day before, walked into the room and took the basin. Sharon wiped Rusty's mouth with the cloth and offered him his water again.

"Feel better?"

"Yeah, that actually does feel better...I'm sorry. That was disgusting."

"Not nearly as disgusting as Thanksgiving '09...Ricky brought a stomach virus home with him and promptly passed it to Emily and me. Three vomiting adults, one bathroom. We had Gatorade and popsicles for Thanksgiving dinner, and then it took a week for me to get the smell of vomit out of the condo. I kept finding it in places that made absolutely no sense."

"Okay, fine. You win."

"That's not the kind of thing I like to 'win' at, but I'll take it."

"I thought you, like, 'don't get sick.'"

"Not from normal illnesses. This was no normal virus. Ricky managed to pick up this mutant, two-day-long virus that no one would have been safe from."

Kelly came back in and gave Rusty his medicine and helped him to the bathroom. She checked his vitals and his wound once he was back in bed and brought him another blanket when he couldn't seem to get warm.

"Dr. Hayes will be here early this afternoon to check on you. Let me know if you need anything, or if you get sick again. Dr. Hayes may need to change your pain medicine."

"'Kay. Thanks."

"Thanks, Kelly." Sharon tucked the blankets around Rusty and felt his forehead. "Are you feeling any better? Your temperature went down a little bit."

"Yeah...My throat feels a lot better."

"Good. I hope you can go home soon."

Amy arrived with Harper an hour later. Rusty could tell that Harper had been crying and didn't seem to be too happy, and she was lying listlessly on Amy's shoulder. "Hi, Harp! What's the matter?"

"Um, where's the Captain?" Amy asked nervously.

"In the bathroom, why are you whispering?"

"I think Harper's sick...She woke up crying this morning, and I thought she just missed you guys, but then I realized she felt too warm...I think. I don't know." Amy touched Harper's forehead. "I don't know why I keep doing that. I can't tell. I mean, she feels kind of warm, but maybe she always feels this warm. I'm not good at this."

"I don't think I'll be able to tell, either. Everything feels cold to me." Rusty sat up and coughed for a few moments and lay back down in his nest of sheets and blankets. "Sharon will know. Did she eat her breakfast?"

"Most of it."

"Did you check her temperature?"

"No, I didn't think to do that. I was too worried that I had done something wrong."

"She doesn't have a runny nose or cough or anything..."

"I did everything right last night, I swear."

"Amy. If she's sick, it's because she's nine months old and is around other germ-infested babies all day at daycare. Sharon knows that. You didn't do anything wrong."

Harper started whimpering and reaching for Rusty, so Amy sat on his bed and sat her on the bed between them. "Try kissing her forehead. Sharon does that when she can't really tell if we have a fever with her hand."

Amy leaned down and kissed Harper's forehead, lingering for a few moments. "I mean, she feels a little warm, but I don't know if she's warm enough to have a fever."

"She doesn't really seem sick, though. If she does have a fever, it's probably low. I bet she's teething. She has a horrible time with it. Did you give her some Motrin?"

"No...I didn't want to give her anything if she wasn't sick. Maybe I'm just paranoid."

"Look in her diaper bag, there's probably some in there. Sharon carries everything but the kitchen sink around in that thing." Amy dug through the bag and found the Motrin and a medicine dropper. "We can wait for Sharon to see if she has a fever before we give her some."

"Give whom some what?" Sharon emerged from the bathroom, having only heard the last part of the sentence. "Hi, Amy. Hi, my sweet girl!"

"Come see if Harp has a fever. Amy let her get sick last night."

" _Rusty_! You said-"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding."

"Ma-ma," Harper whimpered, holding her arms out for Sharon. Amy handed Harper to Sharon and sat down in a chair.

"What's wrong, baby girl?" Sharon gathered Harper in her arms and felt her forehead. "She does have a little fever. I hope she's just getting a new tooth."

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Amy asked. "I'm definitely too incompetent to have kids."

"You can't compare yourself to Sharon. She's so good, it's creepy."

"I'm not _creepy_. I've just had lots of _practice_. The first time Emily had a fever, I was at my parents' house for Christmas, and my dad noticed it, not me. I was clueless. My parents had to talk me out of taking her to the ER. I was a wreck."

Sharon gently raised Harper's upper lip and peered at her gums before prodding at them with her finger. "Yes, she has a new tooth coming in." She gave Harper some Motrin and got a cold cloth from the bathroom for her to bite on to soothe her gums.

"Did she do all right last night?"

"She did fine," Amy replied. "She looked around, like she was looking for you guys, when we got home, but you were forgotten when I started fixing her bottle."

"That's no surprise. A bottle never fails to capture this little piglet's full attention."

Sharon gave Harper back to Amy and sat on Rusty's bed. "Will you be okay if I go home and get some clothes for us?"

"Yeah...Nice duds, by the way."

Sharon looked down at her sweatshirt and sweatpants, both bearing 'St. Leo's Hospital' in large letters. "I look utterly ridiculous. Do you want anything specific from home?"

"Are my blue and gray pajama pants clean?"

"Yes. I did three loads of laundry on Thursday, so most of your clothes are clean. Anything else?"

"Can I wear a sweatshirt instead of this stupid gown? It's freezing in here."

"I don't know. I'll bring a couple, and we'll ask Kelly. It will be almost lunchtime when I get back, do you want me to bring you a burger?" Rusty wrinkled his nose. "What? Is your stomach still bothering you?"

"A little bit...I just don't really want a burger, though."

"All right...Text me if you think of anything else you want me to bring for you, or if you can think of something you want to eat. I'll be back soon." Sharon turned to Amy. "Call me if Rusty gets sick. Well, press the call button and tell Kelly, but then call me. Harper should be ready for a nap around 11:00. And text me what you want for lunch, I can pick up something for us on the way back."

"Lt. Tao is bringing lunch, and he and his wife are going to hang around this afternoon to help with Harper. He said they would take her home with them tonight if your mom can't get here. Their neighbors have small children, so they can borrow a portable crib and anything else you don't have with you. Have you heard from your mom?"

"She has a plane ticket for tomorrow morning, but she's been at the airport, probably since dawn, on standby. Thanks so much, Amy."

"No problem. I'm glad I could help."

Sharon took a quick shower when she got home, grateful to trade her gift shop apparel for her own clothes. She packed a suitcase with enough clothes and toiletries for her and Rusty for the next two days, a bag with extra things for Harper, and another with her computer, iPad, the book Rusty was reading, his chess set, and a deck of cards. Since he was starting to feel better, he was probably going to get bored soon. She heated up the last of the chicken soup she had made earlier that week and put it in a thermos, hoping Rusty would want some. After double-checking the condo for anything else they might need, Sharon left to go back to the hospital.


	12. Chapter 12

Sharon got back to the hospital as quickly as she could. When she got to Rusty's room, Amy was holding a napping Harper and sitting on the edge of Rusty's bed with a basin beside her. Rusty was curled up with his knees drawn up and clutching his stomach. Amy, looking relieved, moved to a chair so Sharon could sit beside him. Sharon sat down and brushed his hair out of his eyes.

"Rusty? Have you been sick again?"

"No...I wish I could throw up, though. I'd feel better."

Sharon got the cup of water from the table. Rusty looked at her and shook his head. "Come on, honey. Just a few sips. It should help, one way or the other." Rusty grimaced and drank a little bit of water. "When did your stomach start bothering you?"

"It still didn't feel right after I threw up this morning, but it got really bad a few minutes ago."

"What about yesterday?"

"I felt a little nauseous, but not bad."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Rusty shrugged. "It wasn't that bad."

"I still would have wanted to know." Sharon climbed onto Rusty's bed and helped him lean against her, keeping one arm securely wrapped around him.

"Um, where's that bowl thing?" Rusty asked nervously.

"It's right beside me. Don't worry. I have enough experience with vomiting children to know when it's coming. And, if you do throw up on me, I've got plenty of extra clothes. We'll be fine."

"Did you bring my pajamas?"

"Of course. Let's wait for Dr. Hayes to come, though, before you change. You may be able to take a shower first." Rusty relaxed against Sharon as her fingers glided through his hair. "How long has Harper been asleep?"

"About an hour," Amy answered. "She went to sleep not long after you left."

"Are you hungry? You're welcome to the snacks you guys brought last night. I ate salt and vinegar chips for breakfast. I hadn't had those in ages, I'd forgotten how good they were."

"I'm fine. I ate some of those crackers earlier, and Tao and Cathy should be here soon with lunch. They're going to that deli a few blocks from the station that you like."

"Perfect. That sounds great." Harper started to stir then, and she sat up and looked around the room, whimpering when she spotted Sharon. "Harper can sit with us for a few minutes. She's usually drowsy and will stay still for a little bit after she's woken up. Or is she ready for a bottle? What time did she get up this morning?"

"She got up at 7:15. I think her teeth were hurting her. I fed her right before her nap." Amy handed Harper to Sharon, and she situated the baby on the side of her not occupied by Rusty. Harper lay on Sharon's shoulder and batted at Rusty.

"You don't like having to share Mommy, do you, Harp?" Rusty commented. A few minutes later, Harper was more alert and wanting to crawl all over the bed, so Amy started to pick her up. Harper looked back at Sharon and Rusty, bottom lip poked out, and her face crumpled.

"All right, fine. Want to play hardball?" Amy got some puffs from Harper's bag and held them out in her hand. Harper's eyes widened, and she squealed and reached for Amy, forgetting about Sharon and Rusty.

"Girl. Your Mommy's going to have to keep a tight leash on you. You would go off with a total stranger if they gave you food."

"It's not exactly flattering that she'll leave me so easily. It does come in handy in situations like this, though. You would think we never feed the child." When Harper was sitting happily in Amy's lap, eating her puffs, Sharon looked down at Rusty. "Is your stomach feeling any better or worse?"

"Same."

"I hope it's just the medicine. That's an easy fix." Several minutes later, Sharon heard Rusty's breathing become more rapid, and he shifted uneasily against her. She grabbed the basin before he got her whole name out of his mouth.

"Shar-"

"I've got it." Sharon placed the basin in front of Rusty's face and patted his back as he got sick.

"I'm going to take Harp for a little walk," Amy announced. "I'm sure Rusty would rather not have an audience for this," she murmured to Sharon, before walking out into the hall with Harper. Dr. Hayes and Kelly came in as Amy was leaving.

"Hi, you guy-oh, dear." Dr. Hayes got a cold cloth from the bathroom and wiped Rusty's face until he was finished. "Here. Slow sips," she cautioned, holding the cup of water to his mouth. He rinsed his mouth out and drank a little bit before the doctor wiped his mouth with the cloth. Kelly took the basin to the bathroom to clean it out.

"Thanks."

"Kelly said you got sick this morning, too. Is this the only other time?" Rusty nodded.

"But he's been nauseous since yesterday afternoon. He just didn't bother to tell me," Sharon said, giving Rusty a pointed look.

"All right. I'll change your pain medicine and see if that helps. Kelly said you've been steady enough on your feet, so do you want to take a shower?"

"Please."

"Okay. She'll help you do that while I change your medicine and get what I need to change your bandages. Don't worry, she'll let you undress and get dressed again by yourself. She'll just stay in the bathroom while you're in the shower in case you get dizzy or lose your balance," Dr. Hayes explained, seeing the stricken expression on Rusty's face. "There's a seat in your shower, but you could still get dizzy and fall over."

"'Kay."

Sharon gathered some of Rusty's clean clothes, a towel, and the toiletries she had brought from home and put them in the bathroom while Kelly helped Rusty out of bed and walked beside him to the bathroom.

"Why do you have to follow me?" Rusty grumbled. "I'm walking perfectly fine by myself."

"You lost a good bit of blood yesterday, your pain medicine can cause you to be lightheaded, and you're sick. You're not cracking your head open on my watch." Kelly stood at the door as Rusty walked into the bathroom. "I'll close the door while you're getting undressed, and I'll come back in when I hear the shower start."

Fifteen minutes later, Rusty emerged from the bathroom in his pajama pants and hospital gown. "Do I have to keep this stupid gown on?"

"No. You can wear whatever you want after Dr. Hayes changes your bandages."

"Thank you." Rusty pulled the gown off and threw it over the back of a chair.

"I'll still be checking your wound for signs of infection later, but I can do that just as easily if you're wearing your own clothes. You can wear a t-shirt, or whatever you want, after the doctor leaves if you get cold." Kelly made some notes on Rusty's chart after helping him back into bed. "Dr. Hayes should be back in a minute. I'll come back after she leaves to see what you want for lunch."

"Thanks, Kelly. I actually brought him some soup from home, if that's okay," Sharon answered. "It would have gone bad by the time he's able to go home."

"That's fine. I'll bring him a bowl and spoon, do you guys need anything else?"

"No, that's all. Thanks." Sharon sat on the bed and tucked the covers around Rusty, making sure he was comfortable. "Feel better?"

"Much. When can I go home?"

"Dr. Hayes said you can go home when you're not so sick. I'm not quite sure what that means. With just the stab wound, you probably could have gone home today, and I would have brought you back every day to have your bandages changed. But she was afraid that your coughing would aggravate your wound, and she's also worried about infection. Since you're already running a fever from being sick, an infection will be more difficult to detect."

"Ugh, I'm going to be here forever."

"Maybe not." Sharon brushed Rusty's bangs back and held her hand to his forehead. "Your fever's still going down, so you may be able to go home in the next couple of days."

"Dear god, I hope so."

"Me, too."

Dr. Hayes returned with an armful of supplies. She quickly changed the gauze in Rusty's cut and put a clean bandage over it. "It's starting to heal very well, and I see no signs of infection. If your fever is still fairly low and your medicine is still helping to control your cough, you may be able to go home tomorrow, unless changing pain medicine doesn't help with the nausea. We'll get that figured out as soon as possible, though."

"Awesome."

"I'll be back tomorrow. Feel better, Rusty." Dr. Hayes patted his shoulder and left the room.

"Can I have a sweatshirt now?"

"I brought your favorite," Sharon said, digging a soft gray sweatshirt from their bag. She pulled it over his head, tucked him back in, and curled up beside him. Amy returned with Harper a few minutes later, followed by Mike and his wife.

"Hi, Mike. Hi, Cathy. Thanks so much for coming to help."

"No problem. I've been dying to meet Harper, and I know you have your hands full." Cathy hugged Sharon and indicated for her to get up. "Mike and I have already had lunch. I'll sit with Rusty while you eat, and Mike can hold Harper so Amy can eat and go home."

"Thanks so much." Sharon got up and found a jar of baby food for Mike to feed Harper. Kelly returned with a bowl and a few extra spoons for Rusty, then left after promising to return at 3:00 to give him more medicine. Rusty ate most of the soup, and Mike fed Harper the last few bites that were left. Once everyone had eaten and Amy was gone, Cathy went to take Harper from Mike. Harper regarded her warily and reached back for Mike.

"I told you she liked me," Mike said smugly.

Sharon looked at her watch. It was after 1:00. "She should be ready for a bottle...You know little piglet will let anyone hold her if she knows they're going to feed her." She quickly mixed a bottle and gave it to Cathy. Harper about jumped out of Mike's arms when Cathy reached for her again, bottle in hand.

"Aw, this makes me want a little girl," Cathy murmured, looking down at Harper as she ate.

Mike looked over Cathy's shoulder at Harper. "I know...I wouldn't trade any of our boys for anything, but a girl would've been fun, too."

"Check back with me when she's a teenager," Sharon said, rolling her eyes. "That's when the party really starts."

"Give Harp a break, Sharon, you know you'll be tracking her phone when she's a teenager like you're the FBI. She won't be able to sneak out and go to frat parties like you did."

Sharon narrowed her eyes at Rusty. " _Excuse_ me?!"

Rusty shrugged. "You're not always around when I'm on the phone with Gran. She tells the good stuff when she knows you're not with me."

"What kind of _good_ _stuff_?!"

"That's between Gran and me. I've already said too much."

"Just wait until Gran gets here," Sharon muttered. While Mike and Cathy were preoccupied with Harper, she got 3 $100 bills she had gotten from the stash of cash she kept at home. That still seemed like a small gesture of appreciation for all of the help they had been, but she didn't know what else to do. She also had to figure out how to thank Amy. "Cathy? I'm putting some money for lunch and the sweatshirt Mike bought for me yesterday in your purse."

Cathy didn't look up from Harper. "No, Shar-"

"Yes."

"I agree with you, but I also know better than to argue with that tone. One-word sentences are never good," Mike informed Cathy.

"Sharon, do you still burp Harper?" Cathy asked, once the bottle was empty. "I can't remember if I still burped mine at this age."

"I usually do, just because she drinks her bottle so fast. If she doesn't burp right away, I don't worry about it, though."

Cathy patted Harper's back for a few moments. "Hmm, was that a burp?"

"If you have to ask, then it wasn't," Rusty answered. "Harp burps like a drunken sailor."

"Rusty!" Sharon looked mortified.

"What? She does."

"Well...You could have said it a little more nicely than that."

"I don't know, ma'am, I don't think any other description could do it justice," Mike said.

"Stop it, boys, I'm sure she doesn't-oh, my!" Cathy jumped back and laughed when her efforts at burping Harper were rewarded. "I was _not_ expecting that!"

"I know, it still catches me by surprise sometimes." Sharon cleaned up the lunch trash and looked at Rusty. "Need anything?" He shook his head, but shifted over on his bed and looked at her expectantly, which Sharon had come to recognize as his silent request for her to lie down with him. "Hold on, let me check Harp's diaper. She probably needs to be changed."

"She does," Cathy said, checking the diaper herself. "I'll change her."

Sharon got a diaper, wet wipes, and the rash cream out of Harper's diaper bag. "Thanks, Cathy," she said, trying to stifle a yawn.

"Take a nap if you want to, Sharon. We can handle Harper for a while."

"I think I will. Harper will take another nap at about 2:00, and you can give her some puffs or yogurt bites when she wakes up. She'll need another bottle a little after 4:00, but surely I'll be awake by then. There are books and toys in her bag. If you spread a blanket on the floor, she might get down and entertain herself for a little bit."

"Please. Cathy won't be putting Harper down anytime soon. You might not get her back."

"Thanks, you guys. Wake me up if you need anything." Sharon climbed into bed beside Rusty, straightened the blankets over them, and curled up beside him. She hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in over a week, and it was catching up to her. Rusty was getting drowsy, as well, and it didn't take long for both of them to fall asleep.

Kelly came in at 3:00, as promised, to give Rusty his medicine. She was able to check his blood pressure and temperature without waking him, but she had to rouse him to take his medicine. "Rusty? Wake up for just a minute. It's time to take your medicine," she said, gently shaking his shoulder. Rusty tried to sit up, but Sharon was still sleeping, and her arm was wrapped around him in a death grip. "You don't have to sit up." Kelly fed him a spoonful of cough medicine and gave him a pain pill, then helped him take a few sips of water. "How is your stomach feeling?"

"Better."

"Good. Let me know if you start feeling nauseous again, even if you haven't actually gotten sick, okay?" Rusty nodded. "I'll be back later to check on you, but let me know if you need anything before then."

"'Kay."

Rusty looked around the room. Harper was asleep on Cathy's shoulder, and both Taos were reading, so he snuggled into Sharon and went back to sleep. He woke up again when he heard Harper whimpering. He opened his eyes and saw that she was waking up from her nap. He also noticed that Provenza had arrived at some point. Cathy studied Harper, looking concerned, and felt her forehead. "Oh, no...Mike, Harper's running a fever."

Mike looked at Harper and held his own hand to her forehead. "She does feel warm...I don't think it's very high, though."

"She's teething," Rusty spoke up. "She always has a fever for a couple of days when she gets a new tooth. There's some Motrin in her bag, she hasn't had any since this morning." Mike measured some into the dropper and fed it to Harper.

Cathy looked relieved. "Oh, honey, we didn't realize you were awake. Are you okay? Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine...I just can't move." Sharon's grip on him hadn't lessened at all.

"Bear with her. She needs reassurance that you're still with her."

"Yeah...But if she holds me any tighter, I won't be able to breathe."

"I'll be happy to wake her up should the need arise," Provenza said. "I think some cold water would do the trick."

Rusty smiled. "You wouldn't dare."

"Try me. This 'June Cleaver' side of the captain is freaking me out. It almost makes me miss Darth Raydor."

Rusty laughed. "Don't worry. Darth is still alive and well, which I'm reminded of at least once a week. I can assure you, you do not miss Darth."

"And just who, may I ask, would that be?" Rusty jumped and Provenza looked stricken for a moment when they realized Sharon was awake. Mike watched them with interest, eager to see how Provenza would talk his way out of this one. Sharon ignored Provenza for the moment and pressed her hand to Rusty's forehead. "You okay? How's your stomach feeling?"

"Fine."

"Good." Sharon's gaze shifted to Provenza. "Now, about this _Darth_ business..."

"Brenda started calling you that when you were still in FID," Rusty explained.

"How did you know that?" Provenza asked.

"She mentioned 'Darth Raydor' a few times the night that Philip Stroh attacked us, but I didn't know who she was talking about until I realized what Sharon's last name was."

Sharon looked at Provenza, suppressing a smile. "I mean, if you really want more of Darth Raydor, that can be arranged."

"That won't be necessary. Save your Darth energy for the kid."

By 7:00, the rest of the team had visited, and Mike and Cathy had taken Harper home with them for the night. Sharon was shocked when her mother came in, carrying a suitcase and a bag of Chinese takeout. "Mom! How did you get here? You were supposed to call me if you got a flight today!" Sharon jumped up from Rusty's bed and hugged her mom tightly. "Oh, my god, I'm so glad you're here. How did you know where to find us?

"I didn't want you to bother with finding someone to come pick me up, and I wanted to surprise you. The nice young man who sat beside me on the plane got one of those Uber things for me. And you told me the name of the hospital, and I asked for Rusty's room number at the information desk. Where's Harper?"

"One of my lieutenants and his wife took her home with them. They're bringing her back in the morning."

"That's just as well, I guess. You are going home tonight to get a proper night's sleep, and I'm staying with this one," Eileen O'Dwyer instructed, sitting beside Rusty. "How are you feeling?" Rusty wasn't the slightest bit surprised when her hand went straight to his forehead. Dear god, these people needed help.

"Better." His chest was actually starting to hurt, and it hurt to cough, but he didn't want Sharon to worry any more than she already was. As of an hour ago, his temperature hadn't risen at all, according to the thermometer that was Sharon's hand, so maybe he was still getting better. Eileen gave him a look like she didn't believe him, but he ignored it.

While Eileen was fussing over Rusty, Sharon started digging through the bag of take-out. She had planned to order something in, but was glad she didn't have to make a decision. "Thanks, Mom. I'm starving."

"You're welcome, dear. I didn't know what Rusty liked, and I thought he had probably already been brought dinner, but I ordered two different things I knew you would like, plus mine. He can have some of ours, but if he doesn't like any of it, you can put the leftovers in the refrigerator at home. I hope it's good. The Uber driver said it was the best Chinese food in L.A."

Sharon looked at the logo on the front of the bag. "I've never heard of this place, but it sure smells good." She opened a box of chicken lo mein. "Rusty, you like this. Want some?"

"Yeah, I could eat some more." Sharon handed him the box and divided the remaining boxes between her and her mother. When they were finished eating, they chatted for a while until Eileen kicked Sharon out.

"Sharon. Go home. You need to relax and get some rest. Rusty will be perfectly fine with me."

"I don't know..." She put her hands on Rusty's cheeks and studied him critically. "Are you feeling worse? You look-"

"Stop, Sharon, I'm feeling a lot better. I'm just going to sleep. Please go home. I'll feel much less guilty if you'll actually sleep through the night. You haven't done that in over a week."

"Yes, I ha-"

"Just because I didn't wake up every time you came in my room doesn't mean I couldn't tell you had been there. And you were probably even worse when Harper was sick. I'll be fine with Gran. Please."

Sharon was wavering. "All right...Wake Gran up if you need anything at all. Or if you start feeling worse. If you want me to come back, I'll come. I don't care how late it is. Mom, you call me if anything at all happens. I mean it."

"Good heavens, Sharon, where do you think you learned to be such an amazing mother? I love you, but get lost."

Sharon laughed. "I'll be back first thing in the morning." She leaned down and kissed Rusty's forehead. "Goodnight, sweetheart. I love you."

"Love you."

"Love you, Mom."

"You, too, sweetie. Get some rest." Sharon hugged her mother, gathered some of the things she had brought from home that she would need, found her purse, and left the room.


	13. Chapter 13

When Sharon got home to her empty condo on Saturday night, she didn't know what to do with herself. This was her first night alone in the new, larger condo, and before that, Rusty had only spent a few nights away from home. She tried to pretend that Harper was asleep in the nursery, but the absence of the monitor that was always by her side when Harper was sleeping kept her from feeling less lonely. She turned the TV on to fill the silence, changed into pajama pants and a sweatshirt, and poured herself a much-needed glass of red wine. She usually preferred white wine, but red was better for helping her sleep. In the years between Ricky going off to college and Rusty coming to live with her, she had allowed herself to drink herself to sleep on a few occasions when the loneliness really got to her. It hadn't been a habit, by any means, but it happened more times than she cared to admit. She had no plans to drink like that tonight, but she knew she would be having more than her customary one glass.

Sharon sat on the couch with her book while the TV droned in the background. She wasn't paying much attention to it, she just couldn't deal with the silence. After reading a couple of chapters in her book and finishing her glass of wine, she still couldn't make herself relax, even though she knew she had nothing to worry about. Cathy had texted her a picture of Harper sleeping in Mike's lap before they put her in the pack and play for the night, assuring her that she hadn't fussed or had any trouble. Rusty was in better hands with her mom than he would have been with Sharon, and the worst-case scenario for him right now was pneumonia or an infection, both of which were treatable. She still couldn't shut off the what-ifs or the general feeling of anxiety and dread she'd had since the confrontation with Charlotte, so she poured another glass of wine and decided to take a bath. Thirty minutes of soaking in the warm water and draining her glass of wine still didn't seem to help, so she dried herself off, put her pajamas back on, and refilled her glass. A little over 3/4 of the bottle was gone now, which was Sharon's limit for not feeling guilty the next day for drinking so much. She could probably finish the bottle without feeling hungover the next morning, but she didn't need the guilt.

Sharon took her book and glass of wine back to her bedroom, climbed into her bed, and played music from her phone while she read. Her pajamas trapped the warmth on her skin from her bath, and the wine was starting to make her feel warm from the inside. She finally started to relax, and she thought that face-timing Rusty and seeing for herself that he was okay without her would help. She texted her mom to make sure he was still awake before face-timing him. Rusty and her mom were laughing and trying to compose themselves when he answered the call.

"Hi, Sharon."

"Hi, honey. I just wanted to say goodnight. Again. What is so funny?"

"Nothing," they answered in unison.

"Uh-huh. Is Gran making up more stories to tell you about me?"

"Sharon. Unfortunately, not one story I have ever told about you was made up." Eileen's attention turned to Rusty. "And what happened to the 'I'll give you the dirt on Sharon, just don't tell her I told you' rule? You had _one_ job."

"Sorry, Gran. It slipped out in a weak moment."

"I'm not telling you anything else if this keeps up."

Rusty smirked. "Yes, you will."

"You're right. I will. Ugh, you caught onto the 'Gran does whatever her grandchildren want' thing pretty quickly."

"That was actually a helpful hint from Emily. Thanks for confirming it, though."

"Betrayed by my own grandchildren. Unbelievable."

Sharon studied Rusty while he and her mom were going back and forth. He didn't seem to mind or react at all to her mom referring to him as her grandchild. Sharon certainly loved him like he was her own and wished she could be as candid about referring to themselves as mother and son, but then again, Rusty had never known any of his grandparents. She knew he still missed his mom, or the way she was when she was sober and without an abusive boyfriend, anyway.

"Rusty? Are you feeling any worse? You still look a little off to me."

"I'm fine, Sharon. For the eight hundredth time."

"Mom? See if he feels any warmer."

"I checked him right before you called. He did feel a little warmer, but it's also time for him to take more medicine."

"Seriously, if temperature-takers anonymous were a thing, you guys would be charter members. And I'm just tired. I'm about to go to bed."

"I'm going to bed, too. Do you have a different nurse tonight?"

"No, it's Carol again."

"Okay. Don't forget to press the call button if you need to get up during the night. Don't get out of bed by yourself."

"I know, I know, Carol's already threatened me. God, she's almost as overprotective as you are."

"Good. And wake Gran up if you wake up and can't go back to sleep, or if you need anything."

"How many times are the two of you going to tell me that?"

"As many times as it takes for you to look like you're listening, young man. When is Carol bringing your medicine?"

"She's coming back in at 10:00. I wasn't ready to go to sleep when she came in before." Sharon looked at the clock beside her bed. It was 9:55.

"All right. I'll let you go. Goodnight, baby. I love you. I'm coming back as soon as I wake up in the morning."

"Love you, too."

Sharon finished her wine and got ready for bed after disconnecting the call. She slipped between her sheets and fell asleep more quickly than she thought she would, aided by the wine and the reassurance that both children were okay and being taken care of.

Rusty woke up in the middle of the night with a pounding headache. He tried to go back to sleep, but it wasn't happening. He looked over at Sharon. She always had Tylenol in her purse. She could just give him some and help him go back to sleep. She could always put him to sleep in no time. If he called for Carol, that would involve getting his temperature taken and all kinds of other crap before he could go back to sleep. He poked at the lump of blankets on the cot beside his bed.

"Sharon?...Sharon!" The lump mumbled for a moment and sat up. "Gran! I'm so sorry, I forgot you were here."

"That's all right, honey. What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

"You weren't waking me up for 'nothing' when you thought I was Sharon. Tell me what's wrong."

"Please, Gran, let's just go back to sleep."

"If you tell me what the problem is, then I'll tell you about the first time Sharon came home drunk."

"My head hurts really bad. I was just going to ask Sharon for some Tylenol. She usually has some in her purse."

"Oh, dear..." Eileen sat on Rusty's bed and felt his forehead. "You're burning up." She put her hand under Rusty's chin and studied him critically. "Do you want me to call Sharon?"

"No, I'm okay."

Carol came in before Eileen had a chance to press the call button. "You guys okay?"

"Rusty woke up with a bad headache, and I believe his temperature has risen," Eileen informed her.

"Let's see..." Carol helped him sit up and checked his vital signs. "Your temperature did go up a bit, but your oxygen level and everything else look good." She lifted Rusty's sweatshirt and gently pulled back the bandage from his wound. "I don't see any signs of infection. Has your cough been productive at all?" Rusty shook his head. "Does it hurt to cough?"

"A little bit."

"Take a deep breath for me." Carol placed the end of her stethoscope on Rusty's back, then repeated the command a few more times as she moved the stethoscope. "Does it hurt to breathe?" Rusty shook his head. Carol looked in his throat and ears. "You're not showing any signs of pneumonia, or of any other secondary infection. The stress from the last two days has weakened your immunity, so you're probably just having a hard time getting rid of this virus." Carol gave him his medicine. "Do you want an ice pack for your headache? The medicine should help in a little while." Rusty shook his head. "I'll come check on you more often to make sure you're not getting worse. Do you need anything?" He shook his head again. "Call for me if you need me." Carol patted his shoulder and left the room.

Eileen sat beside Rusty and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Are you sure you don't want me to call Sharon?"

"Yeah...She's going to kill us, but whether she knows or not, she'll insist on staying here tomorrow night if I can't go home tomorrow. She should get at least one good night of sleep." Rusty lay against Eileen and got comfortable. "It's going to take the medicine some time to kick in. So, about Sharon getting crocked..."

Sharon woke up at 6:30 on Sunday morning. She was still drowsy and could easily go back to sleep, but she wanted to get to the hospital. When she got there, she was worried to find her mom sleeping beside Rusty. She wondered if he'd had another nightmare. After stepping lightly across the room, she softly put her hand on his forehead, then drifted to his cheek. He didn't feel much warmer than the evening before. Rusty stirred under Sharon's touch and squinted up at her. "Shar..."

"Shh, honey, I'm here. You okay?" Rusty nodded drowsily.

"Wanna go home," he mumbled.

"I know you do. It won't be too long. Go back to sleep." When Rusty was sleeping peacefully again, Sharon climbed into her mom's abandoned cot, ready to go back to sleep. She pulled the sheets up to her face and breathed deeply. She didn't care how old she was, lying in a bed that smelled like her mother was the most comforting feeling in the world. When she woke up again, Dr. Hayes was examining Rusty, and her mom was beside her, stroking her hair. Sharon enjoyed comforting her children when they were upset or sick, but it was nice to be on the receiving end, for once.

"Well, hello, sleepyhead. What time did you get here?"

Yawning, Sharon shifted closer to her mom. "A little after 7:00. What time is it?"

"8:30. Did you sleep well?"

"Like a rock."

"Did Rusty have another nightmare last night?" Sharon whispered.

"Yes. It really rattled him. It didn't take long for him to go back to sleep, but he started to wake up every time I tried to get up, so I just stayed with him so he could sleep."

"Thanks, Mom. I wish I could talk him into seeing a therapist. He had too much weighing on his mind before this even happened."

They stopped their whispering, and Sharon watched as Dr. Hayes listened to Rusty breathe through her stethoscope and asked him questions. Luckily, he hadn't been paying them any attention. "Carol was right, it doesn't seem to be pneumonia-"

" _What_ doesn't seem to be pneumonia?!" Sharon demanded as she sat up, looking from Rusty to her mom.

"Uh-oh," Dr. Hayes murmured.

"Busted," Rusty agreed.

"Rusty's temperature went up a bit last night, but I believe his immune system is just having a hard time getting rid of the virus. That's not surprising after the last two days he's had. Carol said he was able to go back to sleep pretty quickly and had no more problems, so I'm sure they just wanted you to be able to rest."

"I _knew_ you didn't look right last night."

"Can I go home today?" Rusty asked hopefully, ignoring Sharon. And her creepiness.

"I'll see how you're doing this afternoon when I change your bandages. If you haven't gotten worse again, you may be able to go home. I'll be back in a few hours." Dr. Hayes made some notes on Rusty's chart and left the room.

A couple of hours later, Sharon could tell Rusty was getting bored. "I brought your book, if you want to read," Sharon offered. Rusty shook his head. "Do you want to play chess? Or cards?"

"Um...Let's play Gin. You're at least kind of good at it, so it's more fun to beat you at it than Chess."

"I am beating you this time."

"Right."

A few hands later, Sharon was close to winning a hand, finally. Her first few hands had been crap. She rearranged her cards while Rusty took his turn. "Um, Sharon? What kind of alcohol was in that drink you got when we went out to eat a couple of weeks ago? A martini, I think?"

"Gin," Sharon answered, confused. _That_ was a random question. "Why-damn it! I was so close!" Rusty had slapped his cards down in exaggerated glee when she answered the question. "You have got to be kidding me," Sharon muttered.

After lunch, Cathy came into the room with Harper lying on her shoulder. Rusty and Eileen were both sleeping. Cathy kissed Harper's forehead and passed her to Sharon's outstretched arms. "Hi, precious! Have you been a sweet girl?"

"She was an angel. She still felt a little warm when I got her up this morning, so I gave her some Motrin about an hour after breakfast. She perked up once the Motrin kicked in, and she had a ball playing with our boys."

"I bet she did. Did she go to sleep okay last night?"

"Yes. She wouldn't let me rock her, though. She had to have Mike." Cathy rolled her eyes. "Mike's been gloating since he put her to bed last night. She warmed up to me again this morning, though."

"Thanks so much for keeping her."

"You're welcome. It was fun having her around. We'd love to keep her when you need us to. Any word about when Rusty can go home?"

"Possibly this afternoon. If not, I would think no later than tomorrow, unless something drastic happens."

"I know you're ready to get him home. Call us if you need us. Harper can have more Motrin now, and she should be ready for a bottle at 2:00."

"Thanks, Cathy."

"You're welcome. She wasn't any trouble. Bye, Harp!" Cathy patted Harper's back and left the room.

Rusty was starting to stir, so Sharon sat on the bed and laid Harper beside him. Harper babbled and patted his face, patiently requesting that he wake up and talk to her. "What..." Rusty mumbled, slowly opening his eyes. "Harps! When did you get here?"

"Just a few minutes ago." Sharon brushed his hair back from his face in a soothing motion. "How are you feeling?"

"Not too bad," Rusty answered honestly.

"That's good to hear," Kelly said, entering the room. She examined Rusty and asked him a few questions. "Let's take a walk around the hall and see how you do, and then you can take a shower. Dr. Hayes will be here not too long after that." Rusty got out of bed and followed the nurse into the hall. After a couple of successful laps and a shower, he got back in bed. "Dr. Hayes will be here soon," Kelly promised as she left the room.

Sharon sat on the couch beside her sleeping mother. Harper had been giving Eileen bewildered looks, like she couldn't figure out if she knew her. "That's Gran," Sharon whispered. "You've seen her on Mommy's phone and computer, but you haven't seen her in person, have you? I think it's about time for Gran to wake up, don't you?" Sharon sat Harper in front of Eileen and tickled her, making her laugh. Eileen woke up when she heard Harper's laughter. "Harper! When-" Eileen's gaze shifted to Sharon. "She has a fever. Is she sick again?"

"Good lord, Gran, you haven't even touched her. I don't even want to know how you knew that."

"I've been trying to tell you. You just _think_ I'm creepy. Gran _invented_ creepy." Sharon looked at her Mom. "Harper's teething. She usually runs a little fever for a couple of days when she's cutting a new tooth."

Dr. Hayes came into the room then. After examining Rusty, changing his bandages, and asking some questions, she pronounced him well enough to go home. Kelly came in with his discharge papers, and Eileen started cleaning up and packing their things while Sharon went through the papers. Kelly helped Rusty change into some sweatpants to wear home while Dr. Hayes gave Sharon some instructions, and they were soon ready to finally go home.


	14. Chapter 14

When they got home on Sunday afternoon, Rusty went straight to the shower, despite the fact that he had taken a shower at the hospital just a couple of hours before. He wanted to wash the 'hospital' off of him as soon as possible. Sharon changed into pajama pants and a sweatshirt before pulling the wrinkled sheets off of the couch and replacing them with fresh sheets from the linen closet, then did the same with the pillowcase on the pillow that was still there from the week before. Eileen carried Harper to the nursery to change her diaper and settled her on the floor with some toys when they returned. Sharon threw the dirty sheets into the laundry room, put some Advil and Rusty's pain medicine on the coffee table, unsure of which one he would want to take when it was time, and sank down into the couch, which gave Eileen an idea. She went back to the nursery and slowly came down the hall, pushing the ottoman from the rocking chair in front of her.

Sharon got up to help her mom. "What are you doing with this?"

"I'm going to put it in front of the couch. We're probably going to need some extra leg room when all three of us are in here."

"Oh, good idea." Sharon got back on the couch and stretched her legs out on the ottoman while Eileen walked through the bedrooms for extra pillows, got Sharon a glass of water, and sat beside her. Sharon removed her glasses and lay on her mom's shoulder, emotionally drained and exhausted. It didn't seem possible that Rusty had only been in the hospital for two days. A headache had started forming behind her eyes on the way home, no doubt from the stress and lack of sleep from the last several days, and now it was pounding. Eileen covered her daughter with a blanket and wrapped her arms around her, holding her tight.

"Rusty's going to be fine, honey."

"I know, Mom. I just...I'm so glad you're here," Sharon murmured, getting comfortable against her mother. She grimaced slightly from her worsening headache.

"You have a headache," Eileen noted, sounding concerned. She put her hand on Sharon's cheek and looked her over.

"No, I don't."

"That was an observation, honey, not a question." The comment took Sharon back to her childhood and teenage years, when she always denied being sick, not wanting to miss school or something fun. She had never been able to fool her mother, though. Just like Emily and Ricky had never been able to fool Sharon when they tried to act like they were sick to get out of something, or exaggerated their symptoms when they actually were sick. Rusty couldn't fool her, either, when he denied being sick at all or downplayed how badly he was feeling. He had been better about telling her how he was feeling this time, but she wondered if it was because the germs had originated with Harper, thus shifting the blame from him. Of course, she would never blame either of them for being sick or think they were too much trouble, but Rusty still didn't seem to understand that. Sharon couldn't bear to think about Rusty getting sick and being treated with anything besides love and comfort before he came to live with her, and she had to blink back a few tears that threatened to escape.

Eileen retrieved two Advil from the bottle on the coffee table and placed them in Sharon's hand. She swallowed them and took a few sips of water before leaning against her mom again. Harper was actually sitting in one place and playing with some of her toys at the moment, but she never remained stationary for long, so Sharon kept an eye on the baby as her mom held her and ran her fingers through her hair. "Close your eyes and relax, darling. I'm watching Harper." Sharon didn't have to be told twice. She closed her eyes and snuggled more deeply into her mother, so happy to be in her arms. As relieved as she was that Rusty was finally home, she was still a little nervous about being away from doctors and nurses in case something happened. Pushing those thoughts away, she fully relaxed for the first time in a long time, knowing her mom could fix any problem that may come up. Sharon was almost asleep when she heard Rusty padding down the hall.

"Come here, baby," Sharon murmured drowsily, arms open, eyes still closed. Rusty dug through the stack of blankets at the end of the couch for his favorite one and cuddled against Sharon, making himself comfortable. Sharon easily found his forehead with her hand, still not opening her eyes. "You still have a bit of a fever."

"Did you really expect that to change in the two hours since they took my temperature at the hospital?"

"It could happen. You okay? Need anything?"

"I'm fine...Oh, god, did I get you sick?" Rusty hadn't expected to find Sharon wrapped in her mother's arms like this. She seemed vulnerable for the first time, like, ever.

"Of course not, honey. And it's time for you to take your medicine."

"Just Advil, please," Rusty said, eyeing the bottles on the table. "I don't like the way that other stuff makes me feel...It doesn't make me feel sick or anything," he amended quickly, when Sharon's eyebrows furrowed and one eye cracked open in his direction. "It just makes me feel groggy and ugh."

"'Kay..." Sharon started to sit up to get the Advil, but Eileen held her back and got it herself.

"I've got it." Eileen reached for the bottle and retrieved three tablets. "Here, sweetheart." She handed Rusty the tablets and Sharon's glass of water. After taking the pills, Rusty settled back in Sharon's arms. Eileen kissed Sharon's forehead, wanting to make sure she wasn't coming down with something. After over a week of taking care of at least one sick child and the fatigue and stress of the last few days, Eileen wouldn't be surprised if Sharon's immune system had given in.

Sharon could tell exactly what her mother was doing. Growing up, a forehead kiss that lasted several seconds longer than usual was always her first clue that her mom knew she was getting sick. "I'm not sick, Mom," Sharon muttered.

"What? I-"

"You were seeing if I have a fever, like I can't tell the difference between a regular kiss and a temperature-check kiss."

"Just making sure."

Sharon realized that Rusty had been quiet and that he felt heavier against her. "He 'sleep?" She murmured.

"He was out half a second after he took the medicine."

"Harp?"

"She's fine, too. She's pulling everything out of your purse, but she's fine."

"Oh, yeah, she loves to do that. At least it keeps her safely occupied for a while."

"You seem like you need a nap, too. Go to sleep, and I'll be spoiling Harper until you wake up."

"That's comforting."

Eileen scratched Sharon's back and ran her fingers through her hair as she lay against her, humming softly until she was asleep. After a few minutes, she propped a few pillows up behind her and gently lay Sharon down. She shifted herself against the pillows, maintaining her tight grip on Rusty. Eileen watched her sleep, thinking that this was the first time since she'd arrived that her expression looked somewhat peaceful. She straightened the blankets over the pair and kissed each forehead, then picked up Harper and carried her into the kitchen. While Harper sat happily in her high chair with some yogurt bites, Eileen quickly started dinner and put Sharon's and Rusty's clothes from the hospital in the washing machine, whether they seemed to have been worn or not. After adding her own dirty clothes to the laundry, she lifted Harper out of her high chair and carried her back to the nursery, leaving Sharon and Rusty to sleep in peace.

A couple of hours later, Sharon woke up, but couldn't bring herself to open her eyes. She could smell spaghetti sauce cooking and could hear the dryer running in the laundry room. She cracked one eye open and spotted her mom rocking a sleeping Harper in the recliner, and she could tell from Rusty's heavy breathing that he hadn't thought about waking up. Relieved that her mom had taken charge, she went back to sleep, waking again a little while later when Rusty was stirring in her arms.

"How are you feeling?"

"God, let me open my eyes first." Rusty sat up and started to lift himself off of the couch.

"What do you need? I'll get it," Sharon said, trying to pull Rusty back down.

"I don't think you can pee for me, Sharon. As convenient as that would be."

Sharon laughed. "I guess not." She looked over at Eileen. "How long has Harp been asleep?"

"Almost two hours."

"Seriously? She hardly ever naps that long. She just catnaps for the most part. Even if we're holding her."

"She's also never taken a nap with Gran," Eileen said, smirking.

"Oh, dear god." Sharon rolled her eyes. "Feel her, Mom, she still looks a little flushed. I meant to ask you to give her some Motrin earlier."

Eileen felt Harper's forehead and ran her hand through her blonde curls. "She's still a little warm, but she seemed fine, otherwise, before she went to sleep."

"Is dinner almost ready? I'm starving," Rusty said, coming back into the living room.

Sharon checked her watch. "It's only 6:00, but I'll go ahead and start the noodles. I'm starting to get hungry, too. They won't take long to cook." She got Rusty settled on the couch again and went to the kitchen to cook the spaghetti noodles and make a salad. Eileen came in with Harper as Sharon was finishing up.

"Hi, baby girl! Did you decide to wake up?"

"Ma-ma!" Harper said happily. Sharon reached for her, but she turned back to Eileen.

"All right, what exactly were you and Gran up to while I was asleep?"

"That's none of your concern," Eileen said, handing Harper to Sharon and taking over in the kitchen.

Harper wrapped her arms around Sharon's neck and lay on her shoulder. "Aw, have you missed Mommy this weekend? I've missed you, too. I don't want to leave you ever again." Sharon kissed her forehead and sat her on the counter long enough to pull her dress off over her head, knowing she was going to make a mess with the spaghetti. "Rusty? Go wash your hands. Dinner will be ready in a minute."

"That was awesome, Gran," Rusty commented after dinner. "I don't think Harper liked it too much, though." Most of Harper's body was smeared with spaghetti sauce. She had inhaled her spaghetti and cried when it was gone.

"I'm just going to go ahead and give her a bath," Sharon said, pulling Harper out of her high chair. She held her away from her body and walked her down the hall. When Harper was clean again, Sharon put her pajamas on her and carried her back to the living room. Rusty lay down in Sharon's lap when she sat beside him. Like many nights before, they just watched Harper entertain herself like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. Eileen finished cleaning the kitchen and joined them on the couch. "What did we do for entertainment before we had Harper?" Rusty asked. "Like, seriously. It's insane how long we could just sit here and watch her."

Sharon laughed. "I've been wondering that, myself."

A couple of hours later, Harper was rubbing her eyes and getting irritable. Sharon went to the kitchen to mix a bottle and came back to the living room. "I think someone's ready for night-night," she said as she picked Harper up. "Girl. It is so far past your bedtime." She still felt a little warm, so Sharon gave her some Motrin and carried her to the nursery after she had gotten goodnight kisses from Eileen and Rusty. A few minutes after Sharon had disappeared down the hall, Rusty got the baby monitor from her room and lay back down on the couch.

"I like to listen to Sharon put Harp to bed," Rusty admitted sheepishly to Eileen. "I know she listens to me, too, when I put her to bed, but that's to make sure I follow the 'routine.'"

"That sounds about right." Eileen tucked Rusty in on the couch and smoothed her hand over his forehead. "You look like you're ready for bed, yourself."

"Ugh, I'm tired of sleeping." Hearing Sharon's soft voice reading to Harper was lulling him into drowsiness, though, and her singing made him even more sleepy. He watched the monitor with heavy eyes as Sharon spoke softly to Harper and laid her in the crib. When she came back to the living room, she knelt beside Rusty and put her hand on his cheek.

"Come on to bed, honey. You look sleepy."

"Noooo, just let me stay in here."

Rusty hadn't strayed from Sharon's side since they got home, if he could help it, so she figured he was also feeling a little uneasy about being away from the hospital. "Come on, honey. I'll lie down with you until you fall asleep, and, if you want, you can come get in my bed if you wake up later. Or call me, if you don't want to get up. You don't have to be alone if you don't want to be."

"'Kay."

Sharon gave Rusty his pain medicine and waited a couple of minutes for him to get ready for bed before going back to his room. She sat on his bed and held her hand to his forehead, looking concerned. "Goodnight, darling. Wake me up if you have another nightmare, or if you need anything at all. I mean it." Rusty just stared at her for a few moments, not saying anything. "What?" Sharon tilted her head, trying to figure out what the stare was about.

"Sorry. It's still weird sometimes when you look at me like that."

"Like what?"

"It's nothing. I can just tell you are concerned and really care about me when you look at me like that. No one's ever been that concerned about me before."

"Honey," Sharon murmured, not knowing what to say.

"Even for the few years that my mom was actually sober, she never took care of me like this. When I was sick, it was like she didn't know what to do, so she just ignored me, like that would make it go away."

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart." Sharon turned Rusty's lamp off and lay down beside him before he could see the tears forming in her eyes.

"I mean, I guess that's better than getting hit in the face by her stupid boyfriend for having a stomach virus."

Sharon knew she would start sobbing if she tried to say anything else, so she wrapped her arm around Rusty and held him close, hoping he would fall asleep quickly. When she felt his body relax against her and heard his breathing become more deep and even, she held him for several minutes before getting up. She eased herself out of his bed and tucked the covers more tightly around him before leaning down and kissing his forehead. She gently wiped away a few tears that fell onto his face and left the room, leaving the door ajar.

Sharon went to her bathroom and splashed cold water on her face before going back to the living room. The emotions that she'd been pushing aside for the last couple of days were catching up to her, and she would probably have a good cry before she fell asleep, but she was composed again, for the time being. Luckily, she hadn't cried enough for her eyes to betray her. Or so she thought.

"Sharon! Honey, what's the matter?"

Sharon opened her mouth to ask her mom what she was talking about, but a sob escaped, instead. Unable to explain, she just sat beside her mother on the couch and lay on her shoulder as sobs wracked her body. Thinking about Rusty's troubled background made her sad enough when he was healthy, but thinking about it when he was so sick and vulnerable was heartbreaking. That, combined with the fear and anxiety from the last two days, had pushed her emotions to the breaking point, and she was thankful to have her mother's arms around her while she finally let them out.

"I-I-he-" Sharon tried to explain after she had calmed down a little bit, but the words got caught in gasping breaths, and her shoulders were still shaking.

"Shh, honey, you don't have to explain. I'd be crying right about now, too. Just cry all you need to. You'll feel better." Sharon had told Eileen enough about Rusty's history for her to guess what this was about. She patted Sharon's back and held her tight as she cried into her shoulder, not happy that this was a problem that she couldn't even begin to fix.


	15. Chapter 15

**_I apologize for the slow-moving plot. I like to read stories with more focus on conversation and daily interaction than a developing plot, so that's what I write. Thanks for still reading and reviewing!_**

"Feeling better?" Eileen smoothed her hands over Sharon's face and gently wiped away the tears that were lingering on her cheeks.

"Much. Thanks, Mom." Sharon hadn't cried in her mom's arms like that since she was a teenager, and her first boyfriend had broken up with her.

Eileen put her hand under Sharon's chin and kissed each tear-stained cheek. "Want to talk about it?"

"It's more of what I've told you before...He still acts surprised sometimes when I take care of him." Sharon sniffled. "I just can't stop thinking about him being ignored or abused when he was sick before. Anyone who can do anything to a sick child that doesn't involve holding him tight is a monster."

"I know, honey. No child should have to go through that. You love him like no one else has ever before, and he knows that."

"You think he really knows?"

"I know he does. You should have seen him watching for you to come back to him the few times you left his side today. The love is mutual, I can promise you that."

Sharon lay on her mother's shoulder for a few more minutes, feeling oddly refreshed after her crying jag. "Glass of wine?" She asked, sitting up and getting off of the couch.

"Please."

Sharon returned a moment later with two glasses of wine and handed one of them to her mom. They sipped a couple of glasses apiece and talked until they were ready for bed. "I'll come show you where everything is," Sharon said, following her mom to Harper's room, where she would be sleeping.

"No need. I looked around while you were asleep earlier. I know where everything is."

Sharon laughed. "Of course you did. You can turn the lamp on in Harper's room while you get ready for bed. She sleeps like a champ." Sharon wrapped her mother in a hug. "Goodnight, Mom. I love you."

"I love you too, darling. Goodnight." Eileen kissed Sharon's cheek and went to get ready for bed.

Sharon got herself ready for bed and checked on Rusty before going to sleep. She put a glass of water on his nightstand and pressed a kiss to his warm forehead before straightening the covers over him. She rubbed his back for a few moments and left the room, satisfied that he was okay. When she got back to her room, Eileen had turned down her bed and was waiting patiently for her.

"Mom. I am fifty-three years old. You are not tucking me in."

"I can tuck you in if I damn well please. Stop whining and get into bed."

"You are impossible." Sharon obediently climbed into her bed. She didn't realize how tense she still was until she felt herself relax as her mother tucked the covers around her shoulders and brushed her fingers through her hair. "Everything's okay, honey. Now, sleep." Sharon rolled over expectantly, knowing her mom would scratch her back. The last bit of tension in her shoulders melted away as she felt her mother's fingernails moving back and forth across her back, and occasionally through her hair, lulling her to sleep.

"Leave my door open when you leave...Rusty..." Sharon murmured, falling asleep mid-sentence.

Rusty woke up shortly after midnight, wanting a glass of water. He wasn't surprised that one had materialized beside his bed at some point. His throat was still a little sore, and he felt hot and cold at the same time. This fever was getting old. He tossed and turned for a while, but couldn't go back to sleep. Any other time this had happened in the last week, he was usually able to fall asleep again pretty quickly. If not, Sharon always somehow knew to come check on him before he had been awake and by himself for too long. He kicked his covers off in exasperation, frustrated that he couldn't fall back asleep. He craved Sharon's warmth and her familiar smell, but he shouldn't need her to help him go to sleep. He was almost seventeen and had lived in the streets and-screw that. He got out of bed, tiptoed down the hall to Sharon's room, and climbed into her bed as lightly and quietly as he could, trying not to wake her. Just being beside her would probably be enough to help him sleep.

Meanwhile, Sharon had woken up and had been trying to summon the energy to go check on Rusty for the last few minutes. She had finally willed herself to move when she felt her mattress sag slightly. It was too heavy to be her mom, and the movements were too quiet and careful to be anyone but Rusty. She turned to face him as he eased himself under the covers.

"Hi, honey," she murmured sleepily. "You okay?"

"I'm sorry, Sharon, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"You didn't. I was about to come check on you. Now, I don't have to get up. But your cold feet are going to have to stay on your side of the bed."

"But you're so warm," Rusty whined.

Sharon instinctively held her hand to his forehead. "Not bad...I hope your fever's gone tomorrow."

"Me, too," Rusty murmured, snuggling into Sharon now that she was awake. She wrapped her arm around him and scratched his back for the few minutes it took for him to fall asleep again.

Sharon woke up again near dawn on Monday morning. Rusty was sitting up with his arms folded over his stomach and taking labored breaths. Sharon quickly sat up and put her hand on his arm. "What's the matter?"

"Sharon, I don't feel good," Rusty answered miserably.

"What doesn't feel good?" Sharon's voice had that concerned tone that Rusty had come to love. Her hand moved to his cheek as she looked him over.

"Stomach."

"Are you going to throw up?"

"I think so, but not, like, right now."

"Okay, honey. Let's go ahead into the bathroom. Sometimes just seeing the toilet can speed this process up a little bit." Rusty gave her an incredulous look. "Two pregnancies, nine months worth of nausea with each. 'Morning sickness for the first trimester' is a lie."

"Are you kidding?"

"No. Some people don't get sick at all during pregnancy, some have textbook morning sickness, and then some, unfortunately, vomit for nine months straight. I know a thing or two about getting this party started. Come on."

Sharon put her hand on Rusty's back and quickly ushered him into her bathroom. Rusty realized she wasn't kidding about the effect the sight of the toilet would have. He fell to his knees as Sharon raised the lid and toilet seat just in time for him to start getting sick. Sharon dampened a cloth with cold water, pressed it to his cheeks, and patted his back until he stopped, then flushed the toilet and wiped his mouth with the cloth.

"Do you think you're finished?"

"I don't kno-damn it." Rusty leaned back over the toilet and threw up a little more. Sharon flushed the toilet again and wiped his face when he was finished.

"I think I'm done now," Rusty muttered.

Sharon got a cup from her bathroom counter and filled it with water. "Rinse your mouth out. I'll get you some ginger ale and find your medicine. Come back to bed when you're ready." Sharon squeezed Rusty's shoulder and left the room. She returned to her bedroom a few minutes later as Rusty was climbing back into bed.

"Here, sweetheart. Drink it slowly." Sharon gave Rusty the glass of ginger ale and fished out a pain pill from his prescription bottle. She waited for him to swallow the pill and held her hand to his forehead. "You don't feel like your fever went up...How are you feeling?" Her hand drifted to the side of his face as she studied him with concern in her eyes.

"Still a little gross."

"I'm sure you do."

"But whyyyyy," Rusty moaned. "I was finally starting to feel better."

"I don't know. I think it's just the end of this virus. I remember Harp having a couple of bad spit-ups the day she started feeling a little better. If it doesn't go away, I'll ask Dr. Hayes about it at your appointment tomorrow. Or today, rather."

"'Kay."

"Do you feel any worse, other than your stomach?" Rusty shook his head. "Does your wound hurt any worse?"

"No...It's still sore, but not worse."

"Are you sure?"

"Why are you bothering to ask me that? You're going to check it, either way."

"You're right." Sharon lifted Rusty's sweatshirt and gently peeled back the bandage. His wound didn't look swollen or red or feel hot to her touch. She replaced the bandage and pulled the covers back up to his shoulders. "I think it's okay." She climbed back into bed and pulled him close to her, not putting him down until he was sleeping again.

When Sharon woke up a couple of hours later, Rusty was missing, but her bathroom light was on. She thought it was odd that the door wasn't closed, but the trail of vomit that started near her dresser and led into the bathroom explained why. Sharon got up and walked across her bedroom, being careful to avoid the spots of vomit on the floor. Rusty had tried to be quiet and not wake her up, but he was relieved to hear her voice and feel a cool, damp cloth being gently pressed to his face.

"Oh, honey," Sharon murmured at the sight that met her. She knelt beside Rusty until he was finished and helped him get cleaned up. Seeing that a little bit of vomit had ended up on his clothes, hands, and feet, she figured he probably wanted to take a bath, so she started running the bathwater and pulled his sweatshirt over his head. "I'm going to get some clean pajamas for you, and I'll leave them right outside the door and go into the kitchen for a few minutes. Leave these in my room for me, and I'll take care of them."

"Wait, I need to clean your floor."

"No, you don't. I've got it."

"Shar-"

"Stop it."

A little while later, both the floor and Rusty were clean, and Sharon tucked him back into bed. By this time, it was after 8:00, and Sharon could hear Harper babbling through the monitor. She was relieved to see her mother's hands reaching into the crib and lifting her out a few moments later. Getting out of bed again sounded miserable right now.

"Hey, Rusty, want to get Gran with the monitor?" The monitor had a feature that allowed sound to go both ways, so Sharon could speak through it and be heard in the nursery. She had discovered it by accident a few weeks before, and when she realized she could speak through it, she scared the crap out of Rusty one night when he was putting Harper to bed.

"Ooh, yeah," Rusty said, lying limply on Sharon's shoulder. His stomach felt like crap, and his arms and legs felt heavy and achy. Sharon pressed her hand to his forehead and sighed softly when she still felt a little fever. They looked at the empty crib on the monitor in silence and listened to the sounds of Eileen turning the sound machine off and narrating her actions to Harper.

"All right, darling girl, let's get you out of this wet diaper! Then we'll get you a bottle, and Gran will make you some pancakes in a little bit. I bet your health nut of a mother hasn't let you have any yet."

Sharon pressed the microphone button on the monitor. "Of course I have, Mom. Just don't let her have any syrup."

"Wha-Sharon?! What the-"

Rusty took the monitor from Sharon. "Careful, Gran, there are young ears listening."

"Where _are_ you two?!"

"You'll have to come find us," Sharon said mysteriously. She replaced the monitor on the charger beside her bed and pulled Rusty closer to her. It wasn't long before Eileen came into her room with Harper.

"How on earth did you do that?!"

Laughing, Sharon held up the monitor. "The sound can go both ways on this one."

"Ma-ma!" Harper said happily, holding her arms out to Sharon.

"Come here, my baby girl." Sharon took Harper from her mom and cradled her in her lap. "This little one seems to be feeling better," Sharon noted after kissing Harper's forehead. "Did that tooth come in?"

While Sharon was fussing over Harper, Eileen did some fussing of her own over Rusty. "How are you feeling?" She brushed his hair out of his eyes and touched his forehead. "You don't have much fever, but you still don't look good." She put her hand under his chin and studied him closely.

"He's gotten sick a couple of times in the last few hours. We had just gotten back in bed when I heard Harper waking up," Sharon explained. "Even after his fever breaks, he'll probably still have a couple of days of feeling sluggish and weak. Harper was more clingy the last two days she was sick than she was the rest of the time."

" _He_ is right here."

"Sorry, honey."

Eileen left to make a bottle for Harper, and Sharon wrapped an arm around each child. Less than a year ago, she would never have dreamed that she would have a child in her home again, much less two. Eileen returned shortly with a bottle and doted over Rusty while Sharon fed Harper.

"You two go back to sleep. I'll take Harper for a while," Eileen instructed when Harper's bottle was empty.

Sharon wanted to object, but, God, she was tired. She squeezed Harper and kissed the side of her head. "I'll see you in a little bit." Rusty was already half asleep, leaning against Sharon, by the time Eileen and Harper left the room, so Sharon carefully settled against the pillows and went back to sleep with him in her arms. When she woke up again a couple of hours later, she felt much better. She eased herself away from Rusty, straightened the covers over him, and went into the kitchen. Eileen was stirring a pot of soup on the stove, and Harper was in her high chair. Sharon walked over to her mom and gave her a hug.

"Hmmm, I love your chicken soup."

Eileen kissed her cheek. "Did you get enough rest?"

"Yes. Those extra couple of hours helped a lot." Sharon lifted Harper from her high chair and rolled her eyes when she smelled traces of syrup. "Mom, I said not to give her any syrup! That stuff is loaded with sugar!"

"Well...She wanted it."

"Oh, she told you that?"

"Don't be ridiculous. I could see it in her eyes."

"Uh-huh."

"Harp! One of your redeeming qualities as a baby is that you can't tell Mommy what Gran gives you!" Eileen mockingly scolded.

"Good thing _Mommy_ has a sense of smell," Sharon replied.

"Well, Harp, now is as good of a time as any for you to learn that people who whine have to make their own pancakes. Or pancake, rather."

"Okay, okay, I'm done," Sharon said quickly. She looked down at Harper, who had started whimpering and rubbing her eyes. "I think this little one is ready for a nap." She rocked her to sleep and held the sleeping baby for a few minutes before putting her in her crib. By the time she had checked on Rusty and gotten back to the kitchen, Eileen had put a plate with Sharon's signature one pancake on the table, along with a cup of coffee, glass of water, and the bottle of syrup. "Thanks, Mom."

"You're welcome, honey." Eileen sat at the table with Sharon while she ate. When Sharon was finished eating, she put her plate and a few other dishes in the the dishwasher. When she turned away from the dishwasher, Rusty was slowly making his way over to her. He stopped in front of her and leaned into her shoulder. Sharon wrapped her arms around him and kissed his forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Gross."

"Is your stomach still upset?"

"No. Everything just feels, like, heavy. And hurts. I feel like I'm trying to move under water."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. You should be feeling better in a couple of days. Do you want some pancakes?"

"No, my head hurts. I'm going back to bed. I just wanted some Advil."

"You should have called for me, honey. I would have brought it to you." Sharon got two Advil from the bottle and gave Rusty her half-finished glass of water. "Finish this water," she instructed when she handed him the pills. She tucked him back into her bed and lay down beside him, holding him close. She had only intended to stay until he fell asleep, but she ended up falling asleep again as well. They both woke up again around noon when the smell of Eileen's chicken soup had drifted into Sharon's room.

"Hmm, do I smell your chicken soup?" Rusty asked drowsily, suddenly realizing he was starving.

"Even better. You smell Gran's chicken soup. Let's go." Sharon led Rusty to the couch and got him settled beside Eileen. Harper was entertaining herself nearby on the floor. "Wait here, I'll bring you a bowl. Do you want a grilled cheese?" Rusty nodded vigorously. Harper pulled herself up on the side of the couch and grinned at Rusty.

"Hi, Harps," he murmured. "I'll be able to play with you again soon."

Sharon returned with a bowl of soup for Rusty to eat while she made grilled cheese sandwiches for both of them. Harper's eyes widened, and she tapped impatiently at Rusty's arm until he gave her a bite.

"Harper! You just ate!" Eileen said.

"Doesn't matter. She'll go apeshit if she sees one of us eating something without giving her a bite," Rusty answered. (A/N: Whichever one of you used the word "apeshit" in one of the reviews for this story, I definitely stole it from you. I was almost in tears from laughing so hard when I read that review!)

Sharon came back a few minutes later with the sandwiches. Rusty was finished with his before Sharon had even eaten half of hers. She quickly finished her sandwich and picked up his bowl. "Did you get enough to eat? Do you want another grilled cheese? Or bowl of soup?"

"Yeah, some more soup would be good." Sharon got soup for Rusty and herself and came back to the couch. "Sharon, you are so full of crap," Rusty commented after finishing his second bowl of soup.

" _Excuse_ me?!"

"Gran's soup tastes exactly like yours."

"There's no way."

"There is a way. I couldn't tell your soup from hers if my life depended upon it."

"I don't see how that's possible, but I'll take it." After taking their bowls to the kitchen, Sharon picked up Harper and sat beside Rusty on the couch. He lay down as close to Sharon as he could get, since her lap was occupied by Harper, and flipped through the channels on the TV. Noticing him shiver, Sharon spread a blanket over him and patted his back. Eileen went to the laundry room and came back with an armful of warm laundry, fresh out of the dryer, and dropped the warm clothes on top of Rusty.

"Oh, my god, I love it when Sharon does that."

"I don't know what gets Rusty in here from his bedroom faster: the smell of food or the sound of the dryer cutting off," Sharon said with a smile.

"Well, you shouldn't cook so good. Or dry clothes so good," Rusty defended himself.

Eileen moved the clothes to a chair to be folded later. She sat beside Rusty and pulled him into her arms, being behind on her doting quota for the day. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Same as this morning. Minus the headache."

In true Gran fashion, her hand went straight to his forehead, and she looked worriedly at Sharon. "He's been running fever for a week now, hasn't he?"

"Yes, but Dr. Hayes said that as long as they know what's causing it and it doesn't go back up, there's no need to worry yet. Dr. Carlson also said that I didn't need to take him back unless he got worse or stopped improving. But, I'm taking him to Dr. Hayes at 4:00 to change his bandages, and I was planning to ask her about it again. I'm worried, too."

"I'm fine," Rusty muttered, not enjoying being the topic of their conversation.

"Life's hard with two mama bears under one roof, isn't it?" Eileen asked with mock sympathy.

"Uh-huh." Rusty curled up against Eileen and watched TV for a while until his eyes started feeling heavy again. Eileen could tell he was getting sleepy, so she held him more tightly and ran her fingers through his hair. "I've been sleeping all day," Rusty complained drowsily.

"You don't stand a chance with Gran, honey," Sharon advised, as Harper was drifting off for a nap in her arms. "She could put the energizer bunny to sleep."

"I-hmmm." Rusty was asleep before he could realize that Sharon was right, yet again.


	16. Chapter 16

Sharon and Eileen sat on the couch for a while and talked, each with a sleeping child in their arms. When Harper woke up an hour later, she rubbed her face against Sharon's shoulder before sitting up, looking bleary-eyed.

"Hi, baby girl. Did you have a good nap?" Harper glared at Sharon and lay back on her shoulder, still drowsy. "I know, I know, don't talk to you when you've first woken up." Sharon kissed the side of her head and scratched her back until she could properly wake up.

"Are you sure you didn't give birth to her?" Eileen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She does share my love for sleeping," Sharon said wryly. "And my disdain for waking up. So does Rusty. Emily's and Ricky's sleeping habits clearly did not come from me. How I gave birth to 'morning people' is a mystery to me." Sharon sighed. "Speaking of which, I hope Rusty wakes up in the next thirty minutes or so. I hate having to wake him up when he doesn't feel well."

Eileen looked down at the unconscious teenager in her arms. "No chance, honey. He's out. And drooling on me."

Sharon smiled. "Yeah, he does that sometimes when he's sick." She fondly brushed his bangs back and felt his forehead. "His fever seems to be going away...Right?" She asked, second-guessing herself with her mom being beside her. "You're better at this than I am."

"You just think that because I'm your mom. There's a reason Rusty says you're creepy, you know." Eileen held a seasoned hand to his forehead. "You're right, I'd say his temperature is under 100." Sharon rubbed his back while a still-sleepy Harper lay on her shoulder. A little while later, Harper was starting to perk up from her nap.

"I'm sure this little piglet is ready for a snack." Sharon carried Harper into the kitchen, and, sure enough, her eyes widened and she pointed to her high chair, bouncing against Sharon. She knew sitting in her high chair meant she would get something to eat. "Uh-huh, I figured as much." Sharon lowered Harper into her high chair, gave her some puffs, and went back to Rusty's bathroom to start his shower and get some clean clothes for him. When she got back to the living room, she sat beside her mom and rubbed small circles on Rusty's back. "Come on, Mom, don't you want to do this for me? He looks so sweet like this."

"Absolutely not. You know the Gran Rule: Don't subject perfect grandchildren to anything unpleasant, however necessary it may be, when Mom's around to do it."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "Rusty? Wake up, honey." She continued to rub his back and gently patted his cheek. The boy didn't stir. "Rusty. Wake up." Sharon's voice was a little more loud and firm this time. "Come on, sweetheart. You need to get dressed." Rusty's slumber remained unaffected. "Oh, god, I hate to do this." Sharon pulled the blanket off of him. "Rusty! It's time to get up."

"Nooooo," Rusty mumbled, turning away from Sharon and burying his face against Eileen.

"Yeeeees," Sharon countered. "We have to go to the doctor."

"Gra-an, don't make me go," Rusty whined.

Eileen brushed his bangs back from his warm forehead. "Sharon, does he have to go? He's so tired."

"The last time I got double-teamed by whiners, one of them was a nine-month old. Rusty, your shower is already running, and I've already set out a towel and clean clothes for you. Let's move."

"You're right, her Darth tone is frightening," Eileen murmured.

Rusty nodded knowingly. "Didn't I tell you?"

"Keep it up, you two, and _Darth_ will start monitoring your phone calls."

"Okay, okay." Rusty took Sharon's offered hands and pulled himself off of the couch. Sharon wrapped her arm around him and led him down the hall. "We need to leave in twenty minutes."

"'Kay."

Sharon went to the kitchen to get Harper out of her high chair. She checked her diaper once she lifted her out. "Mommy forgot to change you after your nap, didn't she? My goodness, this diaper is wet!" Sharon got the diaper bag and laid Harper down on the living room floor. She unsnapped her pajamas, removed the soaked diaper, wiped her down with a wet wipe, and taped a fresh diaper on her. "There we go! I'm sure that feels better. I guess it would be okay to get you dressed for the day, now that it's after 3:00." Sharon looked down at her own attire. "Not that I'm one to talk. I haven't gotten out of my pajamas today, either."

"I couldn't make myself change her clothes this morning," Eileen said. "Those ruffles across her little bottom are too much."

"Aren't they cute?" Sharon folded the pajamas and set them on the coffee table to put in her hamper later. "I love watching her crawl around in them. Little girls' clothes weren't this cute when Emily was a baby." Sharon grabbed a dress from the pile of laundry on the chair and slipped it over Harper's head. Harper abandoned her in search of her toys, so Sharon joined her mother on the couch. "Do you mind staying here with Harp while I take Rusty to the doctor? You can both come with us if you'd rather us alternate children as needed. I know she gets exhausting, and you had her all morning."

"We'll be fine here." Eileen took Sharon's injured hand in hers. "I keep forgetting that you got hurt, too. When do you get your stitches out?"

"I know, I keep forgetting about it, too. Friday, I think. And Rusty should be getting his in, then, unless he isn't healing as expected."

"Does it still hurt?"

"No. It didn't hurt that badly to begin with." Sharon checked her watch. "Goodness, Harp, it's past time for you to have a bottle. I'm surprised you're not screeching."

"I'll get it, sweetheart, you need to get dressed."

"Thanks, Mom." Sharon walked down the hall and heard the shower still running, so she knocked loudly on the door. "Rusty! Get out of the shower, we need to leave in less than ten minutes." Once Sharon was dressed herself, Rusty emerged from his room. "Ready to go?"

"If I say no, can we stay here?"

"Nice try."

Harper was finishing up her bottle when Sharon and Rusty got to the living room. "Bye, Harp. Keep an eye on Gran, will you?" Sharon kissed her forehead and led a slowly-moving Rusty out the door. "Thanks, Mom. We shouldn't be gone too long."

An hour later, a nurse led Sharon and Rusty into an exam room in Dr. Hayes's office. She checked Rusty's blood pressure and temperature, told them the doctor would be in soon, and left the room. Dr. Hayes came in a few minutes later, flipping through Rusty's chart as they greeted each other.

"Rusty? How are you feeling today?"

"Fine."

Sharon shot him a look. "He's sluggish and achy, and I think he's still running a little fever. He's been sleeping for most of the day."

"His temperature was 99.6. It should be back to normal by tomorrow or Wednesday. But, if this is the same virus my children had about a month ago, then he's going to feel like he got hit by a bus for a couple of days after his fever goes away."

"Can't wait," Rusty grumbled.

Dr. Hayes gently prodded at the lymph nodes in Rusty's neck. "Is your throat still sore?"

"A little."

"Are you still coughing?"

"Not much."

"I haven't given him any cough syrup today, but it still hasn't been bad," Sharon agreed.

"Okay. Rusty, I'm going to look in your throat and ears really quick, and then I want to get some x-rays of your stomach, just to make sure everything's still okay, before I change your bandages." Rusty nodded and obediently opened his mouth, knowing what was coming. Dr. Hayes quickly examined him and sent him across the hall for x-rays.

"How old are your children?" Sharon asked once she and Dr. Hayes were alone.

"My son is 17, and my daughter is 15."

A look of apparent surprise came over Sharon's face. The doctor didn't look like she could be any older than 35.

"They're actually my foster children," Dr. Hayes clarified, not missing the look of surprise that crossed Sharon's face. "I don't really want to get married, but I've always wanted children. As soon as I was settled in my career, I applied to be a foster parent. They've lived with me for almost two years now."

"I'm surprised I didn't think of it before I met Rusty. I was so lonely once my children were no longer at home, and I really missed being a mother."

"How long has Rusty lived with you?"

"Almost a year."

"That's all? He adores you. It was months before I felt like my son even liked me. It's much better now, but it was tough for a while."

"It was tough for Rusty and me for a while, too. Just getting used to each other was hard enough, and he wasn't used to supervision. Putting him in school and correcting his behavior, when needed, just annoyed him. It didn't take long at all for me to really care for him, but it was hard to show it."

"I had the same problem. The 'affection' thing would have been easier if mine had been younger when they came to live with me, but teenagers don't really want hugs and kisses."

"I know. Rusty got beaten up by his biological father a couple of months after he moved in with me, and I think he started to see me as more of a mother and less of a warden after I took care of him that night. He caught the flu a couple of months later, and our relationship really improved after that. It was heartbreaking how surprised he was that I actually wanted to take care of him and help him feel better."

"My goodness, he's had a rough time."

"He really has. I think Harper has helped our relationship, too. Having a baby around has softened both of us. She brought home the virus he has now from daycare, and he was much better about telling me he was sick and letting me care for him than he was the last time. I think seeing that I enjoyed taking care of Harper while she was sick made him finally believe that I want to take care of him, too."

"This is going to sound crazy, but I kind of liked it when my children were sick," Dr. Hayes said sheepishly. "Of course, I hated to see them feeling so bad, but they had never let me hold them and mother them like they did when they were sick last month. My shoulders felt naked for a couple of days after they were feeling better."

"No, I feel the same way," Sharon agreed. "I hate that Rusty's still feeling so bad, but I also love that he is comforted by me and wants me by his side all the time. I certainly want him to feel better, but I'm not complaining about him wanting to be mothered, either."

"Well, he's certainly going to want it for the next couple of days. My son sat beside me and lay down in my lap one of the last days he was sick, and I thought I was having a stroke. He had let me fuss over him while he was sick, but that was the first time he initiated it. And Rusty should be feeling much better by Wednesday or Thursday."

Rusty returned to the exam room then, and Dr. Hayes left to look at his x-rays. Feeling even more protective of him after her conversation with the doctor, Sharon sat beside him on the exam table and wrapped her arm around him.

"When can we go home?" Rusty whined, lying on Sharon's shoulder.

"This won't take very long," Sharon assured him. "All Dr. Hayes has to do now is change your bandages, and we'll go straight home after that."

"'Kay. What's for dinner?"

"I don't know. I kind of hope Gran's cooking," Sharon admitted. "I certainly don't expect her to, and there's plenty of leftover spaghetti and chicken soup, or we can order in if you'd rather do that."

"All right, Rusty, let's get your bandages changed so you can go home," Dr. Hayes announced as she came back into the room. Sharon helped him lie down and held his hand as Dr. Hayes gently removed the gauze from his cut, cleaned him up a little bit, and put fresh gauze in the cut.

"What's the gauze for?" Rusty asked curiously. "Why can't you just use bandages?"

"I want your cut to heal slowly, from the inside out. I put less gauze in this time than before, because your cut is healing itself. The gauze keeps enough of the cut separated to keep it from healing too quickly, which could cause infection or other complications. It will be a couple more days before it's healed enough for me to put stitches in to take care of the rest of it." Dr. Hayes tilted her head. "You're wondering why Sharon can't just do this at home, huh?"

"Yeah," Rusty mumbled.

"I have to see how well it's healing before I know how much less gauze to put in. That's impossible to explain to someone else. I just have to see it. The cut might be small enough by tomorrow or Wednesday, though, for me to show Sharon what to do and let her do this for you until I can put stitches in."

"God, please. No offense."

"None taken. I know you're not feeling well, and you don't appreciate having to be anywhere that's not home." Dr. Hayes finished working on his cut and covered it with a fresh bandage. "I'll see you tomorrow, same time. Feel better."

Sharon elbowed Rusty when he didn't say anything. "Thanks," Rusty quickly replied. Sharon also thanked her before helping Rusty off of the exam table, eager to get him home and comfortable.


	17. Chapter 17

When Sharon and Rusty got home from his doctor's appointment, they could hear Harper wailing from outside the door. Sharon quickly unlocked the door and ran inside. Eileen was gently bouncing Harper and trying to soothe her.

"Ma-ma," Harper sobbed, reaching for Sharon.

Sharon took the screaming baby from Eileen and held her close. "What's the matter?"

"She pulled up on the coffee table, but miscalculated the head-table distance," Eileen explained.

"Oh, sweetheart, I know that hurt. Mommy'll get that coffee table for hurting my baby girl." Sharon held Harper and patted her back until her sobs died down a couple of minutes later. Seeing that Harper was okay, Rusty went to his room to change into his pajamas. Sharon sat in the chair and examined Harper's face where she had come in contact with the coffee table. There was a small red mark on her forehead that looked like it was going to bruise, but she could tell it wouldn't be bad. She lightly kissed Harper's forehead, careful not to hurt her, and started rocking her. "There. All better." Harper lay on Sharon's shoulder, still sniffling and not quite buying the "all better" proclamation just yet. Now that Harper was calm, Sharon noticed the folded laundry and the smell of dinner cooking.

"Mom, when you go home, I'm wearing black for a month."

"What does that mean?" Rusty shuffled drowsily into the room, collapsed on the couch, and lay down in Eileen's lap.

"It means I'll be in mourning," Sharon answered.

"Hmm, I think I will, too." Rusty shivered as Eileen covered him with a blanket.

Eileen brushed his bangs back and held the back of her hand to his forehead. "He still feels warm. What did the doctor say about his fever?"

"She said it should go away in the next couple of days. She didn't seem too concerned about it, but she said that once his temperature is normal, he will still feel sluggish and achy for a couple of days."

"Seriously?!" Rusty moaned.

"Oh, I forgot you weren't in the room when she said that. You should feel a lot better by Wednesday or Thursday."

"But that's _forever_ from now," Rusty whined from Eileen's lap.

"Shh, honey, go to sleep," Eileen soothed. "Dinner won't be ready for another hour."

"I don't _want_ to-ugh, you're good," Rusty mumbled, becoming even more drowsy as Eileen's fingernails scratched through his hair. His protests were replaced by soft snores in what seemed to be a matter of seconds.

Soon after dinner, Sharon picked Harper up, intending to give her a bath and put her to bed. "Let me, Sharon, it's been a long time since I've put a little one to bed," Eileen said, standing up and taking Harper from Sharon.

"Thanks, Mom. Her bath things are in my bathroom, her pajamas are in the second drawer of her dresser, and you can put the sleep sack from last night on her."

"The wha-oh, that thing she was zipped into when I got her up this morning? What _was_ that?"

"Guidelines now say not to put blankets or bumpers in the crib, so it keeps her warm."

"Oh, that makes sense now. I was wondering why her crib looked like a prison cell."

"You know Sharon has to follow the rules to the letter," Rusty chimed in.

Sharon kissed Harper's forehead and scratched her back. "Night-night, baby girl. I love you. Sweet dreams." Eileen disappeared down the hall with Harper, and Sharon went to her room to change into her pajamas. When she got back, she sat on the edge of the couch beside Rusty and brushed his hair back from his face. Her hand paused on his forehead for a few moments to assess his temperature.

"Hmm...How are you feeling?"

"I'm...ugh, not good."

"I'm sorry, honey. Does your throat still hurt?"

"Not really. I just, like, hurt. And feel heavy."

"Does it hurt when you cough?" Rusty shook his head.

Sharon put her hands on his cheeks and kissed his forehead for a more accurate temperature check. Her cool hands felt amazing on his cheeks. "Still a little warm," she decided, after lingering for a few moments.

"What else is new?" Rusty grumbled.

Sharon got Rusty's pain medicine and a glass of water. "Take your medicine and go to bed. I know it's early, but you look like you can hardly hold your eyes open." Rusty accepted the offered pill and took a few sips of water. Sharon helped him off of the couch and led him to his room so he could get ready for bed. "I'll be back in a minute." Sharon refilled his water glass and looked around for his phone, noticing that it hadn't been in his hand when he went to his room. She wanted to be sure he had it so he could call her during the night if he needed her. After finding it wedged behind the couch cushions, she went back to Rusty's room to tuck him in. He was just climbing into bed. Sharon put his water and phone on his nightstand and sat beside him.

"Are you warm enough? I can bump the thermostat up a little if you're cold."

"No, I'm fine."

"All right...I have to take Harp to the pediatrician for her nine-month checkup in the morning, but Gran will be here when you wake up. We should be back by 11:00."

"'Kay."

Sharon tucked the covers around Rusty's shoulders and kissed his forehead. "Goodnight, sweetheart. I love you. Wake me if-"

"I know, I know, wake you if I need you."

"Well, you better. You can call me if you wake up and don't want to get out of bed." Sharon made sure Rusty was comfortable and started scratching his back. "As ready as I am for you to feel better, I'm going to miss doing this every night."

"Hey, if you really miss it, I'll never turn you down for scratching my back...Um, Sharon? A couple of months ago when you, um, said I could, like, call you...'mom,' or whatever, were you, like, for real?"

"Of course I was. It's definitely up to you, and it won't change the way I feel about you, whatever you decide. But, if you ever decide you want to call me 'mom,' that's fine with me."

"'Kay...It's weird associating the word 'mom' with someone I love. But hearing Harper calling you 'ma-ma' and listening to you talk to Gran has made me think about it some more. And you keep reminding me of how a real mom is supposed to be. I still don't think I can call you 'mom' without it giving me bad feelings about the other Sharon, but...Maybe one day."

"That would make me happy, but I'll be just as happy if you never feel comfortable with that. Do what's right for you. I love you, and that's all that matters."

"Love you, too...So, like, when did you know that you weren't going to stick me in a group home if I pissed you off one too many times?"

"I knew that from the beginning. I knew what I was getting into when I brought a teenager home, and I wouldn't have thrown you out for doing something wrong, or even a lot of things wrong. If your mom had come back and was fit to take care of you, and going back to her would have made you happy, of course I would have had to let you go, but I was prepared to have you for the long haul."

"But, like, how did we go from just trying to stay out of each other's hair to being more like parent and child? We weren't exactly wild about each other to begin with."

"No, we weren't, were we?" Sharon asked with a smile. "I'm not sure when that happened. I think it just slowly happened over time as we had different experiences and started to understand one another. I didn't realize how fond I was of you until the night you ran away from Lt. Flynn."

"That soon? I had only been here for a few weeks then."

"I know. When I got to the station and saw for myself that you weren't with him, I was hardly able to wrap the case up from trying not to cry. I escaped as quickly as I could, went down to my car, and cried for a good thirty minutes. I'm talking _ugly_ cried. It took half an hour for me to calm down enough to be able to drive home."

"Oh, my god, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. I didn't tell you that to make you feel bad about it. That night was just how I realized that I was starting to really care for you and would miss you if you weren't here. You have no idea how relieved I was to hear your voice when I got home that night."

"I think it started for me when you defended me to Father Healy on the first day of school. Of course, you chewed me out once he was gone, but no adult had ever stood up for me like that before. It seemed like you really cared for me then. I mean, I know you had already bought me a bunch of clothes and a phone and stuff, and I was grateful for that, but this seemed, like, more personal, I guess."

"Yeah...I think the next defining moment was the Daniel Dunn fiasco. I felt just as protective of you then as I would have felt about Emily or Ricky. Daniel is lucky he's still breathing. And not rotting in jail."

Rusty nodded in agreement. "You were the first grownup to clean up and take care of my injuries instead of being the one who caused them. And I might have wanted to go back to my mom that time if she'd actually had her shit together, but by the time Daniel showed up, I didn't even want to meet him. I knew I wanted to stay with you if at all possible, even if he turned out to be a great guy. It's weird that, like, someone who started out as a total stranger loves and cares for me more than either of my actual parents ever thought about doing."

"Oh, honey..." Sharon murmured. She lay down beside Rusty and pulled him into a hug for a few moments, then resumed scratching his back.

"I knew for sure that you loved me when I had the flu. I knew you would, like, give me medicine and make me go to the doctor if it got really bad, because you knew that's what you were supposed to do. But I never dreamed you would actually stay home to take care of me and lie down with me and stuff. And, oh, god, when the stupid tamiflu made me throw up all over the rug beside the couch, I thought I was in for it. You don't clean up someone else's barf like it's just spilled water and then go right back to comforting them unless you love them."

"Rusty. You were still sleeping when you started throwing up. You couldn't have done anything to help that, and I certainly learned the importance of reading the side effects on the label before giving you medicine. I should have been prepared for that."

"Still...That shit was disgusting."

"I'm a little desensitized to it at my stage of the game. You can't survive two children and an alcoholic husband and still get grossed out by vomit. Just my job alone has given me a tolerance for it."

"I don't even want to know the details of any of that."

"Are you sure? I have plenty of stories about Jack coming home trashed and throwing up everywhere except the toilet, sink, garbage can, or any other acceptable location for that. Or of being on patrol and having a DUI suspect vomit all over my police car."

"I'm good. But thanks for the offer. And that image. Gross."

"Any other heavy questions for the night, or do you think you can sleep now?"

"Sleep. My second wind is done for."

"Okay. Call me or come get me if you need me." Sharon scratched his back until he drifted off and got up to find her mom. Eileen was finishing up cleaning the kitchen from dinner. "Thanks, Mom. You should have waited for me to help you."

"It didn't take long. It seemed to take Rusty a while to fall asleep, is everything okay?"

"He's all right. He just wanted to talk. I think the last week of being too sick to do anything has put his mind into overdrive." Sharon opened the refrigerator for a bottle of wine and poured two glasses, and she and her mother sat on the couch. Sharon told her about the conversation she had just had with Rusty, and they talked a little longer before going to bed.

The next morning, Sharon got Harper up when she heard her baby talk start up through the monitor. The bed Eileen had been sleeping in was already made, and Sharon could smell breakfast cooking. "Hi, Harp! Did you sleep good?"

"Ma-ma!" Harper said happily, holding her arms out for Sharon. She lifted her out of the crib and checked her diaper.

"My goodness, this baby has a wet bottom! Let's get my sweet girl changed, and we'll go see what Gran's cooking for breakfast." Sharon carried Harper to her changing table, unzipped her sleep sack and pajamas, and removed her diaper. After wiping her down with a wet wipe and taping a clean diaper on her, Sharon zipped her pajamas back up and carried her to the kitchen. "I know this little piglet is ready for a bottle."

"Here, honey. I thought I heard the two of you up." Eileen handed Sharon a prepared bottle as she walked into the kitchen. "Morning, Harper!" Eileen kissed both foreheads and checked on her breakfast casserole in the oven. "This will be ready in just a few minutes."

"Great, I'm starving." Sharon sat in a bar stool and fed Harper her bottle. "You didn't hear Rusty get up last night, did you? I usually wake up a few times at night when he's sick, worried that he needs something, but I didn't move until I heard Harper wake up."

"He got up to use the bathroom this morning, but I never heard him, other than that. I'm sure he was fine. Between the two of us, one of us would have woken up if he was up and moving around."

"I hope so. I slept like someone hit me in the head..." Sharon looked at Eileen with faux suspicion. "You didn't do that, did you?"

"As tempting as that sometimes sounds, there was no need. It took you approximately half of a second to fall asleep. I checked on Rusty when I woke up this morning, and he seemed to be okay."

"Did he feel like he was still running a fever?"

"I didn't check. I was afraid I would wake him up. Sick teenagers are like babies in that respect. I don't wake them for fear of the whining that comes when they're conscious."

"I'm actually a little relieved that he's starting to whine. I think he's more comfortable with me now than he was the last time he was sick. He let me take care of him, and seemed to enjoy it, but it was like pulling teeth to get him to tell me how he was feeling. I never thought I could detest the word 'fine' so much."

"You're a frequent user of the word 'fine' yourself, honey. My policy of not waking sick teenagers stemmed from your brother and your sister. Definitely not from you." Eileen pulled the breakfast casserole out of the oven and prepared two plates.

"Yeah, because I always managed to get sick when something fun was going on. And then I was mad at you for figuring out that I was sick and making me stay home." Harper finished her bottle and watched Sharon eat, patiently waiting to be offered a bite. "You can have a couple of bites, Harp, but too much of this will hurt your little tummy. I'll make you some oatmeal in a minute." Sharon looked at the clock on the stove. "Or some yogurt, that will be faster. Mommy has to take you to the doctor this morning." She fed Harper some from her plate and quickly finished eating.

"Go get dressed, Sharon, I'll feed Harper."

"Thanks." Sharon got some plain yogurt from the refrigerator and cut a strawberry into small pieces to add to the yogurt, then went to her room to get dressed. Once she was ready, she got a dress from Harper's closet and went back to the kitchen, where Eileen had just finished feeding Harper. Sharon dampened a paper towel and cleaned Harper's face and hands before lifting her out of her high chair. She removed Harper's pajamas and slipped her dress over her head. "We shouldn't be long," Sharon told Eileen. "Text me when Rusty wakes up, please. I want to know how he's feeling. He fell asleep soon after 8:00 last night, so he should be waking up soon."

"Okay. Be careful, darling."

"I will." Sharon gathered her things and Harper's diaper bag and left the condo.

Once Sharon and Harper were gone, Eileen cleaned the kitchen and went to the store down the street for some groceries. When she got back, Rusty was still sleeping, so she started cooking lunch. Sharon called her at 10:30.

"Hi, Sharon. How was Harp's appointment?"

"Fine. It was just her nine-month check-up, and the doctor said she's doing fine. Surely, Rusty isn't still asleep?"

"He is. I just checked on him. I made sure he was still breathing, don't worry."

"Okay. We'll be home soon."

Eileen could hear Harper screaming in the background. "What's wrong with Harper?"

"It's past time for her nap. She did fine for her appointment, but once I strapped her in her car seat, she had a meltdown. She'll be asleep before I get out of the parking lot."

"Okay, honey. See you soon." Eileen hung up and finished putting lunch together. She left it cooking on the stove and read in the living room while she waited for Sharon and Harper to return.

Sharon pulled into the parking garage a little while later. She softly opened the back door and gently unbuckled Harper, trying not to wake her. Harper stirred and started whimpering when Sharon lifted her out and closed the door, so she held her head to her shoulder, gently bouncing her and patting her back as she walked to the elevator. "Shh, sweetheart, it's okay," Sharon soothed. Harper was sleeping again by the time Sharon got to the elevator.

Eileen looked up from her book when Sharon came in, with Harper passed out on her shoulder. Sharon carried Harper to the nursery and gently laid her in her crib. Harper stirred, but Sharon patted her back until she was sleeping soundly again. Sharon turned her sound machine on and cracked her door as she left the room. She peeked into Rusty's room, but he was still sleeping.

"Do I smell chicken and dumplings?" Sharon asked as she came back into the living room.

Eileen gave her a sly look. "It's possible."

"I haven't had that in ages. God, that smells so good. But what am I going to do with all of this food? We already have enough leftovers to sustain us for a week."

"You'll freeze it so you and Rusty will have something for nights that you don't have time to cook. No one's eating leftovers while I'm here."

"You're amazing."

"I know. I get that a lot," Eileen answered with a straight face.

Sharon laughed and curled up on the couch beside her mom. They watched TV for a while until they heard Harper calling for "Ma-ma" from her crib. Sharon started to get up, but Eileen held her back. "I'll get her. I only held her for a few minutes this morning." Eileen returned a couple of minutes later and sat on the couch with Harper in her lap.

"Hi, precious," Sharon murmured. She kissed the side of her head. "Ready for a little snack?" She got a fruit pouch from the pantry and sat back on the couch. She twisted the top off and handed it to Harper, who promptly started sucking it down.

"What on earth is that? Baby food in a pouch?" Sharon nodded. "You have got to be kidding me."

"I know. They're not full servings, though, so I just give them to her for snacks. I buy jars to have for meals where she can't eat what Rusty and I are eating."

At noon, Sharon checked on Rusty again, and he was finally starting to stir. She sat on his bed and brushed his hair back from his face as he struggled to open his eyes. "It's about time, sleepy head," she said softly. "I was about to check your pulse."

"Wha-?"

"You've been asleep for almost 16 hours. How are you feeling?"

"Like someone beat the hell out of me."

Sharon felt his forehead, relieved to finally not feel any fever. "You feel like your fever's gone. I bet you're hungry. Lunch is ready." She helped him out of bed and led him to the living room. He sank into the couch beside Eileen while Sharon went to the kitchen to find the thermometer. When Sharon sat on the other side of Rusty, thermometer in hand, Eileen had her hand on his forehead and was looking closely at him.

"You don't have a fever, but you look terrible."

"Everything hurts."

"I can tell. I'm sorry, baby."

Sharon held up the thermometer. "Open up."

"Come on, Sharon, if you and Gran both think my temperature's normal, do you honestly think the thermometer will disagree?"

"I need peace of mind. Open." Rusty huffed and opened his mouth for the stupid thermometer for what seemed like the millionth time in the last week. "98.4, thank goodness," Sharon announced after checking the beeping thermometer a couple of minutes later. "Ready to eat?"

"Yeah. What did Gran cook?"

"Chicken and dumplings. You're going to love it."


	18. Chapter 18

After lunch on Tuesday afternoon, with Harper napping in her crib and Rusty unconscious against Eileen, Sharon took a shower and got dressed for the day. She had just finished putting makeup on when she heard Harper stirring through the monitor. Harper was standing in her crib and reaching for Sharon when she entered the nursery.

"Hi, my baby girl." Sharon lifted Harper out of her crib and kissed her forehead. "Did you have a good nap?" Harper lay on Sharon's shoulder, not quite awake yet. "I bet you're ready for a little snack." Sharon carried Harper into the kitchen and got some yogurt bites for her. Once Harper was more fully awake, Sharon settled her on the floor with some toys and sat on the couch beside her mom. "He hasn't moved, has he?" Sharon commented, nodding toward Rusty.

Eileen shook her head. "This is the worst he's been since I got here. He's as weak as a little kitten."

Sharon brushed his bangs back and stroked his forehead with her thumb. Rusty emitted a contented "hmm," but otherwise didn't stir. "He's so pale...Dr. Hayes said that both of her children had this virus, or a similar one, anyway, not long ago, and that the last two days were the worst. I hope this is the last of it. He's making _me_ hurt." A little while later, Sharon's phone, which was on the back of the couch, started ringing and Rusty jerked awake.

"Shaaaaron, your phooone," he whined.

"I'm sorry, honey, I didn't realize it was right behind you. I was going to have to wake you up in a few minutes for your doctor's appointment, anyway." Sharon looked at her phone before she answered it. "St. Joseph's-Office...What...Oh, no, I was supposed to call them yesterday, since you've been absent for a week, to let them know what's going on."

"You forgot a rule?!" Sharon shot Rusty a Look before she answered her phone. She quickly updated the receptionist on Rusty's status, apologized for forgetting to call, and hung up. "I'm probably going to regret asking this, but why do you have more than one contact for school in your phone?"

"I also have the infirmary saved. When I get a call from school, I prefer to know whether it's of the 'Rusty's hurt or sick, please come pick him up' or the 'Rusty beat up three other boys badly enough to send them to the infirmary' variety before I answer the phone."

"Yeah, I definitely regret asking that."

"Not as much as you'll regret it if I get another call about you getting into a fight, young man."

"Damn, Sharon, it's been three whole months since you've threatened me about that. Definitely a record. Gra-an, tell Sharon she shouldn't 'young man' me when I'm deathly ill."

"She won't do it again while I'm here, I can promise you that." Eileen gave Sharon a Look of her own and tightened her arms around Rusty.

"Oh, dear god." Sharon rolled her eyes. "Do you two have to gang up on me _all_ the time?!"

"Yes." Eileen and Rusty answered in unison.

Sharon smiled. "I guess I should be used to it by now. Emily and Ricky have traitorous tendencies when Gran is involved, too."

"Don't let Sharon guilt-trip you, Rusty. She and my mom were just as bad, if not worse. Grandparent/grandchild collusion is a family tradition."

Sharon scooped Harper off of the floor and placed her in her lap. "At least I still have one loyal child-ugh, Harp, honestly," Sharon said, realizing her diaper needed to be changed. "That couldn't have waited thirty minutes for Gran? Speaking of which, go get ready, Rusty, we need to leave soon." Rusty groaned as he got off of the couch and shuffled slowly down the hall. Sharon retrieved a changing pad, clean diaper, and wipes from a basket beside the couch and laid Harper on the floor to change her diaper. "There we go! All clean." Sharon threw the dirty diaper away and sat on the floor in front of her mom, watching Harper play and reacting appropriately when Harper handed her a toy every now and then. Eileen absently ran her fingers through Sharon's hair as they chatted and watched Harper.

When Rusty was dressed and came back in, Sharon pulled Harper into her lap. "All right, Harp, are you going to be a sweet girl for Gran?"

"Of course she is. We made a little deal while you guys were gone yesterday. She saves the crying and messy diapers for Mommy, and the naps and sweetness for Gran."

"I'm sure you did." Sharon passed Harper to Eileen and got off of the floor. "Thanks, Mom. We won't be gone long."

"You're welcome, honey. I'll be right here when you get back. _Not_ spoiling this baby."

"Of course not." Sharon gathered her keys and purse and led Rusty out the door. When they returned an hour and a half later, Eileen and Harper were both dozing in the chair. Eileen startled awake when Sharon's keys clanged against the bowl on the table beside the door.

"That was fast."

"Yes, the doctor brought us straight back, and it didn't take long. He doesn't have to go back until Friday, and he'll probably be ready for stitches then." Sharon looked at Harper, sleeping on Eileen's shoulder with her mouth hanging open. "Look how precious," she murmured. She pressed a light kiss to her forehead and got a glass of juice and medicine for Rusty as he collapsed onto the couch and stretched his legs out on the ottoman.

"Hey, Sharon, can we keep this thing in here? I'm liking the extra leg room."

"I've been thinking the same thing." Sharon sat beside Rusty with his medicine and juice and propped her legs up. "I'll have to find one that matches the couch a little better, though." He took the medicine and curled up against Sharon, worn out from the trip to the doctor. She covered him with a blanket and kissed his temple. "Honey, what hurts?"

Rusty buried his face into Sharon's shoulder. "My _existence_ ," he moaned.

Sharon wrapped her arms around him and scratched his back with one hand. "I'm sorry, honey. I invited Lt. Provenza and Buzz over for dinner. I thought you could use some male energy for a while."

"Awesome. Thanks."

"Mom? We can order in if-"

"Sharon, please. I'm cooking plenty of food. If we do somehow run out, we're not hurting for food around here."

Sharon smiled. "No, I guess we aren't."

Harper woke up a little while later, so Eileen handed her to Sharon so she could get dinner started. "Ma-ma!" Harper held her arms out for Sharon, who gladly took her. "Hi, sweetheart. Did you have a good time with Gran?" Harper lay on Sharon's other shoulder, still drowsy from her nap. She started perking up a few minutes later, but she still wasn't quite ready to leave Sharon's lap. Clearly not happy with Rusty occupying some of Sharon's attention, Harper started pushing at Rusty's head, like she wanted him away from Sharon.

Rusty was almost asleep, but he slowly opened his eyes. "Harps, girl, I'm not even touching you."

"Relax, Harp, there's enough of Mommy for both of you." Sharon scratched backs until Harper was ready to get down, then moved her purse and Harper's diaper bag to the floor beside Harper, hoping that emptying their contents would keep her busy for a while. She had no idea why pulling everything out of a bag entertained Harper so much, but anything that kept her in one place for longer than a couple of minutes was fine with Sharon.

Provenza and Buzz arrived an hour later, and good smells were emanating from the kitchen. Sharon was tempted to wake Rusty up, but he was sleeping so good against her, and she would have to wake him soon for dinner, anyway, so she decided to let him sleep. She and Rusty were taking up less than half of the couch, so Buzz sat on the other side of him, and Provenza sat in the chair. Harper smiled and her eyes lit up when she recognized their visitors. Abandoning her toys, she started crawling toward Provenza.

"Oh, no you don't," Provenza said, realizing he was Harper's destination. "You don't want to come over here. Stay over there with your nice little toys."

"Come see me, Harp," Buzz spoke up. "He's probably too old to even pick you up. Not to mention still sore from building the pyramids."

Undeterred, Harper continued on her mission toward Provenza. She grabbed the edge of the chair, pulled herself up, and giggled as she reached for him. Sharon's mouth twitched as an amused smile threatened to appear. "Come on, Lieutenant, how can you resist that?"

"Oh, it can be done, I assure you." Provenza willfully ignored Harper until she smacked his leg and reached for him again, babbling in her gibberish talk as she patiently waited to be picked up. "Ye gods, you're like a cat," Provenza grumbled. He gave in, picked Harper up, and sat her in his lap. "You seek out the person in the room who wants you the _least_ and jump up into their chair...What?" He asked, looking up and seeing Sharon's and Buzz's amused looks. "I could have resisted her if I wanted to...I just didn't particularly want to."

"Uh-huh." Sharon shifted under Rusty's dead weight. "Thanks for coming over, you guys. I can't promise that Rusty will be in a good mood, but I know he'll be happy to see you." They talked for a while until Eileen announced that dinner was ready. Sharon gently patted Rusty's cheek. "Wake up, honey. Dinner's ready."

"Nuh-uh," Rusty mumbled, pressing more closely to Sharon.

"Uh-huh. It's time to eat, and you have some company."

"Oh, yeah." Rusty slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Hi, you guys."

"How are you feeling?" Buzz asked.

"If his looks are any indication, then I'd say like death," Provenza commented.

"Ummm...What he said," Rusty mumbled, stifling a yawn as he agreed with Provenza.

"Let's go eat." Sharon helped Rusty off of the couch, took Harper from Provenza, and led everyone to the dining room table. Rusty cheered up a bit during dinner and the following conversation in the living room. Around 8:00, when he started looking drowsy again, and Harper was fussy and clearly ready for bed, Provenza and Buzz took it as their cue to leave.

"Bye, Rusty. Feel better." Buzz lightly patted his shoulder and walked toward the door.

"Yeah, kid. Feel better. But not too soon. Major Crimes is flourishing under my leadership."

"I'm sure it is." Rusty yawned and slumped tiredly against Eileen. Sharon led the guests to the door, holding Harper, and left the living room to bathe her and put her to bed once they were gone.


	19. Chapter 19

Late Tuesday night, Rusty jerked awake after having another nightmare. He wasn't sure if he'd called out in his sleep, so he listened to the quiet sounds of the condo for any signs of Sharon or Eileen being awake. After a few moments of listening to the usual middle-of-the-night stillness of the condo, he tried to go back to sleep. He couldn't shake the image from his nightmare of Sharon in a heap on the ground, though. This was the worst kind of nightmare. He'd gladly welcome the nightmares of Stroh chasing him in Griffith Park if it meant he didn't have to deal with nightmares of something happening to Sharon. He got up and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. When he passed Sharon's room, he heard her mumbling and thrashing around, in the throes of her own nightmare.

"Rusty...Sweater...I've got it...Stop the bleeding...Harp...Roll paramedics," Sharon urged, still not waking up. Leave it to Sharon to use police-speak, even in her sleep. "Rusty! Please..." Rusty quickly crossed the room and climbed on her bed.

"Sharon? Sharon, wake up. You're dreaming." He turned the lamp on and gently shook her shoulder. "Sharon! Wake up." She finally opened her eyes and peered up at him.

"Hey...You're okay," she murmured, reaching up to touch his cheek.

"Yeah. Come on, I'll make you some tea."

Sharon knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep any time soon, so she agreed. She got out of bed and wrapped her arm around Rusty as he was doing the same to her. " _I'm_ supposed to be taking care of _you_ ," she whispered, lying on his shoulder as they walked down the hall.

"Yeah, well, I think you've gotten your fill of that recently. I can return the favor every now and then."

Sharon sat in a bar stool and watched with concern as Rusty slowly moved around the kitchen, getting glasses of water for both of them and getting the tea kettle started. "Honey, you still don't look like you're feeling very well."

"I feel the same. Just tired, and, like, achy."

Sharon gave a sympathetic hum and continued to study Rusty as he sat in the bar stool beside her. "So, what were you doing up? You okay?"

"Yeah. I just wanted some water, and I could tell you were having a bad dream when I walked by your door."

Sharon gave him a shrewd look. "You didn't have a bad dream of your own that woke you up?"

"Well, yeah, that too," Rusty mumbled. "Good lord, you are so creepy."

"Knowing what you look like after you've had a nightmare isn't _creepy_." Sharon fixed him with a look.

"So, like, how did you and Lt. Tao know what to do... _that_ day?" Rusty asked. "I don't remember much, but you guys seemed to know what you were doing."

"We're trained in first aid."

"You are? Well, Lt. Tao did go to medical school, so that makes sense, but you are, too? Cool."

"Of course I am. I'm a police officer, you know."

"Oh, yeah. I forget about the 'police' part, sometimes. Well, the 'patrol' part, I guess. It's kind of hard to forget the 'police' part, you do that to me every day."

"Ha ha. And, yes, I do know first aid. I could deliver a baby if I had to."

"For _real_?!" Sharon nodded and got up to make two mugs of tea when the kettle started whistling, then indicated for Rusty to move to the couch. He followed her and covered up with a blanket as they got settled. "Did you ever have to do that?"

"Actually, yes. One time. I had only been on patrol for a year or two. I saw a man on the side of the road working on his car that had broken down. This was before there were cell phones, so I stopped to make sure he was able to get his car running again and that I didn't need to radio in for someone at the station to send him a tow truck. He was in a panic, as his wife was in labor, but I'd heard horror stories of labor lasting for hours, so I wasn't that worried about it. I still went ahead and radioed for an ambulance, though, but the baby started coming before it could even get there. I'd barely gotten the poor woman situated in the back seat before the baby started crowning." Rusty didn't need to hear about how the baby had come through the birth canal too quickly and was in shock, and how its little face had been blue and Sharon had had to do infant CPR for the first time in her life. The story did have a happy ending, but the images of the seemingly lifeless baby still haunted Sharon sometimes, as did the parents' frightened cries, demanding to know why the baby wasn't crying. Sharon had quickly turned her back to them as soon as she got the baby out, hoping to keep them as calm as possible. She'd gotten the baby breathing again by the time the paramedics arrived, but she'd never been more frightened in her life, until Rusty got hurt. That part of the story could wait for another time. Rusty had plenty of material for his nightmares as it was.

"Ew. Was that not, like, disgusting?"

"It wasn't the most pleasant thing I've ever done," Sharon agreed, "but holding a baby that might not have made it if I hadn't been there was definitely one of the most rewarding things I've ever done."

"I'm not a baby, but I probably wouldn't have made it without you, either." Not knowing what to say, Sharon put their now-empty tea mugs on the coffee table and pulled Rusty into her arms. She held him tight as he snuggled into her shoulder, trying to form an adequate response. Her thoughts were interrupted when they heard cries from Harper's room. "She hardly ever does that anymore. Do you think she's okay?"

"I'm sure she's fine, and I'm also sure Gran is picking her up as we speak." Sharon looked down the hall when the cries abruptly ceased. "See?"

Eileen came down the hall a few moments later, carrying Harper. "I thought I heard voices. What are you two doing up?"

Sharon leaned against Eileen when she sat beside her. "Bad dreams."

"Ma-ma!"

"Hi, sweet girl. And just what are you doing up?"

"I don't know," Eileen answered. "She seems fine, and her diaper was a little wet, but it shouldn't have woken her up."

"Hey, Gran, did you know Sharon's delivered a baby before?" Rusty was still amazed.

"Rusty can't believe that I'm capable of safely bringing adorable little babies into the world." Sharon tickled Harper as she spoke and was rewarded with a giggle.

"Oh, yes. I seem to remember her emphatically telling me that she would _not_ be having any children."

Rusty looked back at Sharon. "What changed your mind?"

"The fact that I was already pregnant with Emily. I just didn't know it yet."

"Yeah, I guess that'll do it."

Eileen cocked her head. "Wait, didn't you have to do CPR on that baby?"

" _Mom_!"

"What?! Sharon! You left that part out."

Sharon sighed. "It's not the best middle-of-the-night topic of conversation. Anyway, the baby was in shock, but he was breathing and was fine by the time the paramedics got there." They talked a little while longer until Harper started looking drowsy again. "All right, I think it's time to go back to bed." Sharon reached for Harper. "Come on, you little insomniac." She carried her back to the nursery and zipped her back into her sleep sack, which had been abandoned on the changing table, before rocking her back to sleep. Eileen was leaving Rusty's room when Sharon walked into the hall. "He okay?"

"Yes, he went back to sleep pretty quickly. Goodnight sweetie. I love you."

"Thanks, Mom. Love you."

Sharon tossed and turned for the rest of the night, with intermittent intervals of fitful sleep. She didn't have any more nightmares, but she kept listening for Rusty and was too afraid of having another one to fall asleep very deeply. Rusty had fallen back asleep with no trouble, but woke up again soon after and had the same luck with sleeping as Sharon, and when he heard Eileen get up with Harper the next morning, he slipped through the bathroom and into the nursery, hoping he'd have better luck in Eileen's bed. He climbed into bed and pulled the covers up over his face, calmed by his grandmother's comforting scent. Sharon had the same idea and was surprised to see that Rusty had beaten her to it when she entered the nursery. "What's the matter? Did you not sleep well?"

"No," Rusty admitted.

"Me, neither. Move over."

Eileen came in a couple of hours later to put Harper down for a nap, startled to find Sharon and Rusty asleep in her bed. Sharon opened her eyes when she heard Eileen come in. She sat up and yawned. "Hi, Mom. Thanks for getting up with Harp."

"You're welcome. What are you guys doing in here?"

"Neither one of us slept well after we went back to bed last night. We both had the same idea to get in your bed after you woke up."

"I was wondering why you were still asleep. I expected Rusty to sleep late. It's time for this little one's nap."

"It's 10:00 already?"

"Sure is."

Sharon rubbed her eyes, still not ready to get up for the day. She held her arms out for Harper. "Here, I'll take her. I'm not quite ready to get up yet." Sharon settled Harper between her and Rusty. She'd been afraid until recently to put Harper in the bed with her, but she was big enough now for Sharon to sometimes take naps with her and not worry. Eileen sat with them until they were sleeping again and got up to clean up and cook lunch. They all three woke up a couple of hours later when they smelled lunch cooking in the kitchen. Rusty was confused to wake up to Harper giggling and patting his face.

"Where'd she come from?" Rusty mumbled.

"I woke up when Gran came in to put her down for her nap, so I just put her in bed with us. How are you feeling?"

"Ugh, tired."

Sharon studied him for a moment and felt his forehead. "Still no fever..."

"Seriously, Sharon. The first step is admitting you have a problem."

"You can still get an infection, young man, so I still need to keep an eye on your temperature." Sharon tried to glare at him, but failed miserably. "Come on, let's go see what Gran's cooking. It smells amazing."

By Friday, Rusty was finally feeling better, and it was time to get stitches in his wound. And for Sharon to get her stitches out of her hand. Dr. Hayes quickly removed Sharon's stitches before examining Rusty and making sure he was ready for stitches. "Did you have any trouble changing his bandages?"

Sharon shook her head. "No, you were right. It was pretty simple."

"She wasn't as fast as you were," Rusty complained.

"I was afraid I was going to hurt you," Sharon responded indignantly. "And you would have complained even more if I'd had to keep bringing you back here just for that."

Rusty shrugged. "Yeah, you're right."

Dr. Hayes laughed. "You look like you're feeling better." Rusty nodded. She quickly checked his throat and ears before examining his cut. "Okay, Rusty, I'm going to deaden the skin around your cut before I stitch you up."

Rusty nodded absently. He didn't know what "deadening" involved, but Sharon did. She grabbed his hand and held it between both of hers. "Wha-" He looked over at Dr. Hayes, who was preparing the syringe with an anesthetic. "Ugh, crap, do I have to get a shot?"

Sharon brushed his bangs back from his forehead. "Afraid so." Dr. Hayes quickly put the stitches in and told Sharon to make an appointment for the following Friday before they left. When they got home, Eileen was cooking dinner while Harper busied herself with pulling the pots and pans out of one of the cabinets. Eileen looked up when they came in. "How did it go?"

"Fine," Sharon answered. "My stitches came out, and Rusty's went in. She's going to check them next week, but it'll probably be two weeks before he can get them out. She wants him to rest for another week, but he can go back to school after that."

"I'm glad everything is getting back to normal."

"So am I. Thanks so much for everything, Mom. I couldn't have survived this without you."

Eileen pulled Sharon into a hug and kissed her cheek. "Yes, you could have. I just made it a little easier."

"A _lot_ easier," Sharon murmured, not letting go of her mother.

"Come here, Harps, this is getting too mushy for me." Rusty picked her up and started out of the room. He'd only been holding her for a few seconds when he realized she was starting to fill her diaper. "Ugh, nice, Harp. You do that to me the first time I've held you in over a week? I swear you do that on purpose." For all of his complaining, though, he was just as relieved as Sharon that life was getting back to normal, even though 'normal' involved changing shitty diapers.


	20. Chapter 20

**_A year and a half later_**

Rusty's injury healed with no problems, and Harper's aunt had gotten a plea agreement with minimal jail time, but had to follow up with intensive therapy with a psychiatrist, both during her incarceration and after her release. This was fine with Sharon, as she could tell that Charlotte hadn't really been a violent person. She'd seen violence and people who were capable of ending someone else's life in cold blood and with no regard for human life, and Charlotte didn't fit the bill. She just needed to accept the fact that she needed the psychiatric help that she had been refusing for so long. Rusty wasn't so pleased with the results, but Sharon had tried to explain to him that the justice system was just as much about rehabilitation as it was about correction. Most of what he had seen at Major Crimes involved cold-blooded murderers, so he didn't really get the point of "rehabilitation." As long as Charlotte kept up with her treatment, Sharon didn't see her as a threat to any of her children's safety, and that was good enough for her. Charlotte's ex-husband was willing to help her regain partial custody of their children, and said he would even consider reconciliation, if she stuck to her treatment and got back on her feet. Charlotte had been in the midst of a manic episode when Rusty was injured, and the more Sharon read about it, the more she realized that Charlotte had very little control of her actions at the time. All she really wanted was for her to get the help she needed and to get her life back as much as possible.

It had now been almost a year and a half since the incident with Charlotte, and Harper had recently turned two years old. Rusty had also turned eighteen, and Sharon had finally officially divorced Jack. She had started the process of adopting both Rusty and Harper, and they were three days away from the ceremony with Judge Richwood to make it official. Sharon woke up on Monday morning and took her time getting dressed. They didn't have a case at work, and Harper had had a bit of a cold over the weekend, so she wanted to let her sleep a little longer before waking her up to take her to daycare. It was odd that Rusty wasn't also awake and rushing around to get to work at _Badge of Justice_ , but the show had had some complications with a shooting location, so he had the week off while they worked that out. This was the first day in weeks that he'd been able to sleep in, so she moved around quietly, trying not to wake him up. Her peaceful morning was interrupted by a phone call from Provenza, informing her that they'd caught a case early that morning and that she would need to get to the morgue in the next hour, if possible. Groaning, she quickly finished getting dressed and went to wake Harper up. She stepped lightly into the nursery and sat on the edge of her toddler bed.

"Wake up, sweetheart," Sharon murmured as she pulled the covers off and patted the toddler's back.

"Nooooo, san," the two-year-old whined, trying to pull her covers away from Sharon. "I cold!"

"Harp, I have no idea what 'san' means." She'd been saying that for a couple of days, now, but Sharon nor Rusty could figure out what she meant when she said it. "Come on, baby girl, don't you want some breakfast?" Sharon pulled Harper into her arms and patted her back when she started coughing.

"Nooo, I huwt!" Harper lay pitifully on Sharon's shoulder.

"You hurt? Oh, Harp." Sharon held her hand to the little girl's forehead, sighing softly when she realized she had a fever. "You don't feel too good, do you?" Harper shook her head miserably. "Can you tell Mommy where it hurts?" Harper shook her head again. "Does your throat hurt?" Sharon asked, as she lightly touched Harper's throat. Harper nodded. "Does your head hurt?" Another nod. "I'm sorry you don't feel good, sweet girl."

Sharon thought fast. Ideally, she could go to the morgue, then to work to establish a game plan with her team and get everyone started, and then be home by lunchtime, or soon after, and work from home for the rest of the day. She didn't want Rusty to feel obligated to keep Harper on his first day off in a while, though, and it was possible for her to send Provenza and Tao to the morgue and then talk about the case with the rest of the team over FaceTime, but this stage of the case would be much easier if she were there in person. She depended upon Rusty a lot with Harper when they had a case, and although she tried to keep it to a minimum, he honestly didn't seem to mind. She decided to wake him up and see how he reacted. He was a terrible liar, and she would be able to tell if he didn't want to keep her this morning, even though he would probably still tell her he didn't mind. She changed Harper's diaper and settled her in her high chair with breakfast before going to wake Rusty.

Much like she'd just done with Harper, Sharon sat on Rusty's bed, pulled the covers off of him, and patted his back. "Wake up, Rusty."

"Whaaa?" Rusty mumbled.

"Harper has a bit of a fever-"

"I'll stay with her," Rusty volunteered quickly. "I feel like I haven't seen her in forever, and I probably would have gone to get her soon after I woke up, anyway. You're the one who insisted on taking her to daycare today, not me."

"Thanks, honey. I just need to go to the morgue and to work long enough to get everyone started. I should be back soon after lunchtime, at the latest, but call me if I need to come home before then."

Rusty nodded. "We'll be fine, Sharon. Don't hurry, do whatever you need to do."

"I know you will, but I hate to disrupt your first day off. Harper's eating breakfast now, but she's still drowsy, so I'm going to try to rock her back to sleep before I leave."

"Okay, just put her in here with me if she goes back to sleep, or I can go ahead and get up if she doesn't."

"Thanks so much, Rusty. I'll make it up to you."

"Sharon, please. This is nothing. You've done way more for me than I could ever possibly do for you."

Sharon gave him a sad smile. "You have no idea how grateful I am to have you. I'll be back soon with Harp."

Rusty sat up and looked at his phone until Sharon returned with a passed-out Harper on her shoulder about ten minutes later. "Her temperature's just a little over 100, but check it again when she wakes up, and text me what it is. I've already given her some Motrin, and she can have some more at 11:30. Um..."

"Sharon, I've got this. It's like she's my little sister or something. You're going to be texting me every hour, anyway, and I can always call you if I need you."

"I know..." Sharon kissed Harper's forehead and reluctantly laid her beside Rusty before tucking her in beside him. "Call me-"

"Oh, my god, Sharon, just go."

"Okay, okay, I'm gone. Thanks, sweetie. I'll be home soon." Sharon kissed his forehead and left. When she returned at 12:30, Rusty was in the living room rocking Harper, who looked like she was ready for her nap. Sharon leaned down and kissed his cheek before taking Harper from him. "Has she-"

"She's had lunch, some pedialyte, her temperature's the same as it was when you texted me an hour ago, and I just changed her. I checked her temperature less than five minutes ago," Rusty said, anticipating Sharon's next question.

"Thanks again, honey. I brought you lunch." Sharon nodded toward the table beside the door where she had left her purse, and Rusty immediately recognized the take-out bag from his favorite burger place.

"Mmm, thanks, Sharon." Rusty got the take-out bag and the milkshake she'd also gotten for him.

"You're welcome. You can eat on the couch if you want to, but use a _plate_." Sharon pointed her finger at him for emphasis.

"Oh, my god, Sharon, are you okay?" Rusty asked mockingly as he got a plate from the kitchen and returned to the couch.

Sharon rolled her eyes. "I know you do it when I'm not here, anyway."

"I don't know _what_ you're talking about."

"Uh-huh." Sharon gave Rusty a knowing look and turned her attention back to Harper.

Rusty watched as Sharon felt Harper's forehead and studied her with her eyebrows furrowed, eyes narrowed, and her face drawn in concentration. It was the same motherly scrutiny that she possessed when he was sick. He continued watching as she started humming and scratching Harper's back as she rocked. He never got tired of watching her act like a mother, whether it was to him or to Harper. He started to take a bite of his burger, but paused, unsure of whether Sharon would have remembered to order it without tomatoes or mustard. Ick. "Don't worry, honey, I'm not new at this. I asked for no tomatoes or mustard," Sharon assured him when she saw him lift the top bun of his burger to check its contents.

"Awesome. Thanks." Ever since the adoption talk had begun, Rusty appreciated, even more, the details Sharon knew about him. Like how she could tell someone his birthday without having to ask him or look at his DCFS file first, or how she knew small things, like his favorite color or his general likes and dislikes. Harper was now asleep, so Sharon got up to get some records to go through while she continued to hold her. She walked over to Rusty first.

"Don't forget about your haircut appointment this afternoon," Sharon reminded him. She pushed his too-long bangs back from his face. "Oh, look at that! Your eyes are blue! Who knew?"

"Ha, ha. I know. I'm going to visit, um, the other Sharon after I eat, and I'll go straight from there. It will give me a reason to leave for when she inevitably loses her shit." Sharon hadn't been too happy when she'd found out that Rusty still hadn't told his biological mother that she was adopting him, after promising to tell her weeks ago. Sharon got what she needed and settled back in the chair with Harper, and Rusty finished his lunch and got in the shower. "I'll buy some groceries on the way home and cook dinner tonight," Rusty promised when he came back through the living room after getting dressed. "I know you'll be busy with work and this little rugrat."

"Thanks, honey. Make sure you use your credit card for the groceries and your haircut." Rusty had opened his own bank account when he started working for _Badge_ _of Justice_ , but Sharon had insisted that he keep her credit card for the things that she still wanted to pay for. Which was a lot. "And would you mind taking my car and putting gas in it? I was in a hurry to get home and didn't want to stop for that."

"Yeah, I'll do that. But your car will still run even if you have less than a quarter of a tank. Just so you know."

"It will also still run even if you don't wait until the gas light has been on for two days before you bother to get gas, young man."

"Uh-huh. Be back soon."

"Be careful."

"I will." Rusty found Sharon's keys and left.

When Rusty returned later that afternoon, Sharon was sitting at the table and face-timing with her team on her computer. Harper was lying listlessly in her lap. Rusty got dinner started and took Harper from Sharon.

"'Ussy! Wead?" Harper requested as he picked her up.

"Sure, Harps." He carried her back to her room so she could pick a book, not surprised when she quickly selected _Pat the Bunny._ Rusty could probably recite that book, cover to cover, without having to open it. He had definitely had his share of Paul and Judy and the various things they could do, but Harper couldn't get enough of it.

A couple of hours later, dinner was ready, and Sharon ate quickly before getting back to her work. Not long after they'd eaten, Harper was starting to get whiny and was obviously ready for bed. Rusty picked her up and carried her over to Sharon. "I'm going to put Harp to bed, but I knew you'd want to tell her goodnight."

Sharon took Harper from Rusty and hugged her close. "Night night, baby girl. Mommy loves you."

"Ni, san," Harper mumbled. Sharon looked questioningly at Rusty.

"I can't figure out what 'san' means, either," he told her.

Sharon kissed Harper's forehead and realized her temperature seemed to be going up. "Rusty, bring me the thermometer, please."

Rusty found it on the table beside the chair and placed it in Harper's ear. "101, even."

"That's still not too bad, but if she's still sick tomorrow, would you mind taking her to the pediatrician? I want her to be as well as she can be for the adoption ceremony on Thursday. I can take her if-"

"No, Sharon, I don't mind at all. I want you guys to finish this case by Thursday, too, so everyone can be there."

"Thank you. I'll put the humidifier and her sound machine in my room while you give her a bath. She can sleep with me tonight, since she's not feeling good. Give her some Motrin before you put her down, please. And put some Vicks on the bottom of her feet before you put her pajamas on. Her cough is getting worse." Sharon followed Rusty back to Harper's room and gathered what she needed while Rusty got a fresh diaper and clean pajamas. He gave Harper a quick bath, as she didn't feel like playing with her bath toys as usual. After getting her dressed for bed, complete with the Motrin and Vicks, he read her two books, sang Jesus Loves Me, and rocked her for a few minutes, per the damn bedtime routine. He had to admit that he'd been surprised at how well Harper still went to sleep on her own once her crib had been replaced with her toddler bed, but he wasn't about to admit that to Sharon, as she would undoubtedly throw the success of _the routine_ in his face. Once Harper was sufficiently drowsy, Rusty carried her to Sharon's bed, tucked her in, and lay down beside her until she was asleep, which he and Sharon only did when Harper was sick.

Later that night, after both Sharon and Rusty had gone to bed, Sharon woke up to Harper urgently tapping her face. "I no bee! San I no bee!"

"What?!" Sharon turned her lamp on and sat up. Harper gasped for breath between harsh-sounding coughs. "No bee!"

"You can't breathe?!" Well, clearly she could, but it was obviously difficult. Harper shook her head, looking panicked. Sharon held her hand to Harper's forehead. She was burning up. "Okay, sweetheart, we're going to the hospital." Sharon frantically called the pediatrician's after-hours number as she got herself dressed and gathered a couple of extra diapers, wipes, and clean pajamas for Harper, not knowing how long they would be gone. Dr. Walker, Harper's pediatrician, ended up being the one on call for her office, and she told Sharon that she would meet them in the emergency room. She suspected a severe case of croup and assured Sharon that Harper should be okay, but that she did need to be seen right away. Sharon rushed out of the condo with Harper in her arms, not taking the time to wake Rusty and tell him where they were going. She'd call him if they were still gone in the morning.

Dr. Walker was correct about Harper having croup, but she ran a couple of extra tests to rule out any other problems, gave Harper an anti-inflammatory, and gave Sharon some instructions before they left. Sharon returned to the condo with Harper at six in the morning, surprised to find a frantic Rusty in the kitchen with his phone in his hand. "What the _hell_ , Sharon?! Where the hell have you guys been?! Why is your phone turned off?!"

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry. Harper woke up in the middle of the night, coughing and having trouble breathing, and I had to take her to the ER. She's okay. It's a severe case of croup, but she'll be fine. I thought we'd be back before you woke up, and my phone must have gone dead. I haven't even looked at it."

"Oh, my God, Sharon, I would've gone with you. I know you were scared out of your mind." He pulled her into a hug with Harper sandwiched between them, as she was still in Sharon's arms.

"It's okay, honey. I think it's better that I took her by myself. No need in having both of us freaked out...Why are you awake so early, anyway? You okay?"

"Yeah, I got up to get something to drink, and noticed that your keys and purse were missing, so I looked in your room, and both of you were gone." Rusty pulled away from Sharon and touched Harper's flushed cheek. She was still awake, just lying solemnly on Sharon's shoulder. "Has she been awake this whole time?"

"She went back to sleep in the car for a few minutes, but she woke up when I got her out of her car seat. We're both going back to sleep as soon as I change clothes." Sharon paused to check Harper's diaper. "And this little one's wet diaper, for that matter."

"Here, I'll change her and get her back to sleep. Go ahead and change and get in bed, and I'll bring her to you once she's asleep."

"Thanks, darling. I think I'll take you up on that." Rusty changed Harper's diaper and gave her some milk and what little breakfast she would eat before rocking her to sleep. After rocking for only a couple of minutes, he took her to Sharon's room. Her eyes were closed, but she opened them when she heard Rusty come in and reached for Harper. Rusty tucked her in beside Sharon and climbed in, too. He put a protective hand over Harper, right beside Sharon's hand, and fell asleep, with his soon-to-be-official little sister tucked securely between him and his soon-to-be-official mom.

 ** _This was supposed to be the last chapter, and I had intended for it to be a short chapter about the adoption, but my mom recently told me a story about me having croup when I was two that I had never heard before, so I was tempted to incorporate that. And then it ended up being enough material for two chapters, so there will be one more chapter after this. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!_**


	21. Chapter 21

_**I know I said one more chapter, but I decided to end with two shorter chapters. I guess I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye, either. The next one will definitely be the last one, though. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!**_

Rusty woke up again at 10:00 on Tuesday morning. Sharon and Harper were still unconscious, so he decided to cook potato soup for lunch. He didn't know if Sharon would be going to work at all, but, if she did, she'd probably be working through dinner, and soup would be easy for her to heat up and eat quickly. By 11:30, the smell of the soup cooking had filled the condo and woken Sharon up. Harper was pressed into Sharon's side, and she felt like a hot water bottle. She was starting to stir, so Sharon waited a few minutes until she woke up.

"Hi, sweet girl, how are you feeling?"

"Yucky," Harper pouted.

"I know you do." Sharon felt the toddler's forehead. "Goodness, you feel hot. Let's go get my baby girl some medicine, and it smells like Rusty's cooking some potato soup for lunch! That's one of your favorites!"

"Tay-ta sooooooo!" Harper agreed.

"I knew the mention of food would perk you up, little piglet!" Harper lay on Sharon's shoulder as she carried her into the kitchen. Rusty had heard them moving around, so he met them at the end of the hall with a dropper of medicine and a sippy cup of Pedialyte. "Thanks, honey. I'm excited about that soup, it smells great!" Sharon kissed his cheek and went to the living room to change Harper's diaper.

Rusty stirred his soup and joined Sharon and Harper in the living room. "The soup is ready whenever you're ready to eat. Are you working today?"

"No," Sharon answered as she quickly changed Harper and zipped up her pajamas. "I told everyone I would check in with them this afternoon, but they won't need me unless they hit a dead end or get a new lead. If that happens, it probably won't be until this evening. I don't want to leave Harper when she's this sick. I trust you to take care of her, but-"

"I know," Rusty interrupted. "I'd rather you be here, anyway. She's never been this sick before, and I would probably be a little nervous with her by myself. But if you feel like you should go-"

"The team can handle it, honey. If they work tonight, then I'll go in once Harper's asleep, but that's just because I'll feel guilty about sleeping when everyone else is working." Sharon was starting to understand what Chief Taylor meant when she'd called him out about Chief Pope's promise to promote her to commander a couple of years ago, and he'd responded that the transfer to Major Crimes, in itself, should be considered a promotion. She certainly wouldn't have been able to leave her team in FID unsupervised for hours at a time in the middle of an investigation.

Harper's patience lasted just long enough to get her diaper changed before she let her desire to be fed known. "Eat!" She demanded, looking from Sharon to Rusty expectantly to see who would react to her request first.

"Come on, Harps, I'll feed you. I've already eaten a little bit, but, Sharon, I'm sure you're starving." Harper usually liked to feed herself, but Rusty knew that probably wouldn't be the case today.

"I am hungry. I didn't eat breakfast. God, this smells amazing."

Rusty started to put Harper in her high chair, but she whimpered and squeezed her legs around Rusty when she realized he was going to put her down. "Okay, okay, Harp, I'll hold you." He sat at the table with Harper in his lap while Sharon made bowls of soup for Harper and herself. Sharon put a bowl and a spoon in front of Rusty and sat down to eat her own.

After lunch, Sharon sat in the rocking chair with Harper while Rusty sat on the couch with the adoption papers that he was finally going to read, so Sharon would get off of his ass about it. Harper lay drowsily in Sharon's lap, wrapped up in a blanket, and watched _Frozen_ while Sharon was texting furiously, no doubt checking in with her team. Harper was over _Frozen_ less than an hour into the movie and cuddled into Sharon, ready to go back to sleep. Sharon put her phone down and wrapped the blanket more tightly around Harper as she lay on her shoulder and nuzzled into her. Her forehead burned against Sharon's neck. She started coughing, so Sharon patted her back, gave her a few sips of pedialyte, and got her settled again.

"Sweet Harp," Sharon murmured. She patted Harper's back and hummed softly as she rocked, watching Harper as her eyes began to close. "Mommy doesn't like it when her baby doesn't feel good."

"She's pitiful," Rusty noted.

"I know." Sharon looked down and brushed Harper's messy blonde curls back from her hot forehead. "Dr. Walker said she would be today, but she should start feeling a little better tomorrow. She still won't feel great on Thursday, but she should be much better, so we can probably go through with the adoption ceremony as planned." She resumed humming, and Harper's breathing slowly evened out as she began to feel heavier against Sharon.

"My God, Sharon, you're going to put _me_ to sleep." Rusty got up to get a second bowl of soup and returned to the couch, eager to find something lacking princesses on TV. He was more well-versed in Disney princesses and their drama than a guy his age should ever be. He watched as Harper slept in Sharon's arms without a care in the world, and he couldn't help but feel a little jealous. This motherly love and care from Sharon was all she would ever know. She would grow up, expecting Sharon to drop everything and take care of her when she was hurt or sick, never knowing anything different. Of course, he wouldn't want her to have to know anything less, but he sometimes wished that he and Sharon had found each other a little sooner. Not too much sooner, otherwise he probably wouldn't enjoy being taken care of by Sharon as much if it had been the norm for most of his childhood, but just soon enough to avoid Gary and living in the streets or with an abusive foster family. He did have to admit, though, that he had caught himself taking Sharon for granted before. The last time he was sick, he'd been kind of excited about it when he realized he was starting to feel bad, knowing that a couple of days of Sharon's sympathetic looks, comfort, and coddling were forthcoming. He hadn't thought twice about telling her the second he felt bad enough to whine about it. As usual, she'd delivered.

After dinner that night, Sharon bathed Harper while Rusty cleaned the kitchen from dinner. When he heard her coming back down the hall, he put some Motrin in a medicine dropper, figuring that was why she was coming back to the kitchen. "Thanks, honey. I think we're going to need to do the saline tonight, too. Her congestion isn't much worse, but I think she'll sleep better tonight if we do it." Sharon felt Harper's forehead and peered at her with that concerned look Rusty loved. "She's still burning up."

Rusty grimaced. Harper kicked and screamed like they were trying to kill her any time they had to give her saline, so they only did it if her congestion was bad enough to keep her from sleeping. It was a two-person job, no question. "All right..." He got the saline and suction bulb from the medicine cabinet and dampened a wash cloth while Sharon gave Harper the Motrin. Sharon laid Harper, wearing only her diaper, on the living room floor and straddled her. She held herself just low enough to keep Harper from moving too much, but not so low that she was putting any weight on her. Rusty transferred the saline and suction bulb to Sharon and quickly crouched behind Harper to hold her head still. Harper started wailing before she even saw the saline, knowing what it meant when Sharon and Rusty had her in this position. Sharon squirted the saline in Harper's nose and suctioned it out as quickly and gently as she could. She knew she wasn't hurting her, but that didn't make her cries any less heartbreaking. The worsening coughs that resulted when she was finished didn't help, either. **_(A/N: This reaction to saline may seem a little extreme, but this is exactly what my two year old niece does every time my sister has to give her saline, which I was reminded of over the weekend. That's where the inspiration to incorporate that into this chapter came from.)_**

"All right. All done." Rusty wiped Harper's face with the cloth before Sharon picked her up and held her close. "You have a yucky nose, Harp, and this will help. You know we wouldn't do this to you if it didn't help you feel better. That didn't even hurt, did it?"

"It _yuck_ ," Harper pouted, as her sobs finally started to abate.

"I'm sorry it's yuck, but your nose is yuck, too. It's over, now, and your nose will feel a little better. Let's go get your jams on." Rusty took Harper from Sharon so she could get off of the floor. "Ugh, my knees are getting too old for this." The first time they'd given Harper saline, Sharon's and Rusty's roles had been reversed, but Harper had gotten too strong for Sharon to hold her head still enough for Rusty to administer the saline.

"Night-night, Harps." Rusty kissed Harper's forehead and gave her back to Sharon.

"Ni, 'ussy," Harper pouted, with a poked-out bottom lip.

Rusty rolled his eyes at Sharon. "D-R-A-M-A...Oh, my God, I bet kids learning to spell is, like, one of the worst things ever."

"It's up there," Sharon agreed. "But what's even worse is forgetting that your kids have learned to spell, and spelling out a word in front of them that they can decipher. I can hear sassy, five-year-old Emily now. 'Mommy! I can _spell_ now, you know. And you just spelled a _bad_ word!'"

Rusty laughed. "I'm sure she kept you on your toes."

"She certainly did. I'm sure this one will, too," Sharon said, cupping Harper's cheek as she lay on her shoulder. "Come on, baby girl, it's time to go night-night." Sharon carried Harper to her room and zipped her into some footie pajamas. After reading and singing to her, Sharon continued to rock Harper until she fell asleep, but still couldn't bring herself to get up. She loved rocking her babies, and Harper was growing up so fast. And was _definitely_ the last baby. Her four children, both adult and otherwise, were plenty for her. Being in her fifties with a teenager and a toddler had never been in Sharon's plans, but she wouldn't have it any other way. With her arms and her heart full with joy and love, Sharon continued rocking Harper for a while longer, enjoying holding her and listening to the sweet sounds of her soft baby snores.


	22. Chapter 22

**_As much as it saddens me, this is the final chapter (it's nice and long, though!). Thanks so much to everyone who has kept up with this story! Judging from my viewer stats, it looks like some of you have read this several times, and that is the best compliment I can imagine (don't get me wrong, your awesome reviews are much appreciated!). If those of you who are "repeat readers" don't mind, would you please PM me and let me know what you liked, that made you read this over again? Or if any certain chapters stuck out as your favorites? If you are a guest reader, or if you would just rather tell me in a review, then that is fine, I just didn't want to sound like I was fishing for reviews, haha. If you haven't favorited/followed/reviewed, but have read this more than once, please don't let that deter you from letting me know what you liked. I'm terrible about not reviewing or favoriting stories I like, and I'm not going to look to see if you have previously done so. I would just like to get an idea of what drove people to read this story over again for future reference :)._**

After Sharon went to bed Tuesday night, she tossed and turned, unable to fall into a deep sleep. Harper was curled up beside her, and although her cough had improved some as the day went on, it was worse again now that she was lying down. The pediatrician had said that would happen, and Sharon remembered the same being true when Emily and Ricky were sick as children. Just as Sharon's doze was threatening to turn into a deeper sleep, Harper coughed harshly enough to wake herself up. Sharon woke up in time to see Harper's face crumple as she started crying. She drowsily sat up and pulled Harper into her lap.

"Shh, Harp, Mommy's right here. Don't cry, baby, that's making your yucky cough worse." Sharon gently rocked back and forth, holding Harper close and stroking her hair, as her cries died down to whimpers. When she was calm again, Sharon took her to the kitchen to give her some medicine. Harper drained the half-full sippy cup of pedialyte Sharon had given her to wash down the medicine, so she refilled the cup and carried Harper to the rocking chair. After drinking a little more juice, Harper handed her cup back to Sharon, indicating that she was finished. "All done?" Harper nodded. "Do you want to go back to Mommy's bed, or rock for a little bit?"

"'ock."

"Okay, sweetie." Sharon felt Harper's forehead, then gently squeezed the front of her diaper through her pajamas. "You're wet, honey. Let Mommy change you really quick, and then we'll come back and rock, okay?"

"Noooo," Harper whimpered. She turned into Sharon and cuddled against her. "I cold."

"I know, baby, but you need a dry diaper. I'll be fast, I promise." Sharon got on the floor beside the basket with diapers and wipes and laid Harper in front of her. She quickly wiped her down, taped a fresh diaper on her, and zipped her pajamas back up. "See? All done. It feels better to have a dry bottom, too, doesn't it?" Harper scowled in response. Sharon pulled her into her arms and held her close. "You are too precious, baby girl. Even when you're mad."

Sharon took Harper back to the recliner and rocked her, humming softly and patting her back, hoping she would fall back asleep soon. But, every time Harper's eyes started to close, she'd start coughing again, and Sharon would have to start all over.

"San," Harper whimpered pitifully, after a particularly violent coughing fit.

"I don't know what that means, baby. Do you want some more juice?" Harper shook her head. Sharon thought of the TV shows Harper liked to watch, trying to think if any of them even remotely resembled 'san.' "Do you want to watch Princess Sofia?" Harper shook her head again before her coughing started back up, and she started crying again. "Shh, sweetheart, you're okay," Sharon soothed. She stood up and gently bounced as she patted Harper's back. "Let's go sit in Mommy's bathroom for a while. I'll turn the shower on, and the steam will help your cough."

Sharon carried Harper through her bedroom and into the bathroom, closed the door, and turned the shower on as hot as it would get. After fifteen minutes of pacing, humming, and gently bouncing Harper, she had finally fallen asleep on Sharon's shoulder. Sharon stopped bouncing and slowly swayed back and forth until she was sure Harper was good and asleep before lowering herself to the floor and leaning against the bathtub to let the steam work its magic for fifteen more minutes.

While Sharon was dealing with Harper, Rusty had been tossing and turning, himself. He couldn't get his conversation with his other mother out of his mind, and, for some reason, he was starting to feel uneasy about the adoption, in general. Giving up on sleep for the time being, he started for the living room, intending to watch TV until he could calm his mind. When he walked by Sharon's room, he saw that the lamp beside her bed was on. He peeked in, but her bed was empty. A quick search of the kitchen, living room, and nursery revealed that Sharon's purse and keys were in their rightful places, but she and Harper were still missing. Rusty went back to Sharon's room to investigate further and realized that her bathroom light was on under the closed door. What the _hell_? As he got closer to the bathroom, he could hear the shower running. Now, Rusty was completely baffled. The only scenario he could come up with that would require Sharon to be in the shower and have Harper with her was that Harper had thrown up on her, but there was no evidence of that in Sharon's bed or anywhere else in the condo. And, surely, she would have woken him up to help her instead of dragging Harper into the shower with her? Rusty tentatively knocked on the door. He chickened out after a couple of soft knocks, knowing Sharon couldn't have heard him from the shower, and started to walk away before he heard her voice.

"Rusty?"

"Yeah. Um...Wha-"

"You can come in." Sharon knew he must be confused about her and Harper being in the bathroom with the door closed.

Rusty hesitated. "Are you sure? Are you, um, I mean-"

"Yes, Rusty, I'm fully dressed, I promise."

Rusty slowly opened the door and relaxed when he saw Sharon on the floor with Harper sleeping in her arms. "What the hell are you doing?"

Sharon chuckled. "Harp woke up coughing pretty badly a little while ago, and the steam helps clear her lungs. Close the door." Rusty closed the door and sat beside Sharon. "What are you doing up? You okay? You were a little quiet today."

"Yeah. I've just, um, been thinking, I guess."

"Hmm." Sharon looped her arm through Rusty's and laced her fingers through his. "Anything you want to talk about?"

"I don't know." Rusty lay on Sharon's shoulder, and they sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Rusty began to speak again. "I really do want you to adopt me, I have no doubts about that, I just...My mom lost her shit when I told her. I know she's been nothing but horrible to me, but I still feel bad. And then there's you. You've already done too much for me, more than I'll ever be able to pay back. I feel like I'm doing a lot of taking, and not nearly enough giving."

"Oh, Rusty." Sharon wrapped her arm around him and kissed his forehead. "You have brought me so much joy. You have no idea."

"Sharon. I've brought you extra expenses, trouble at school, and potato chip crumbs in the couch."

Sharon laughed. "Well, that, too, but I knew what I was getting myself into when I brought a teenager home. But that doesn't have anything to do with me adopting you. I've loved you like you were my own child since before I even thought about making it official. The adoption is for formality purposes, only."

"I know, I just-I guess it, like, reminds me of how much you've done for me and taken care of me. And you could've gotten rid of me once I wasn't the state's problem anymore, but you didn't. Helping me through college is more than enough, but adopting me on top of that just seems like too much."

"Honey. Adopting you has nothing to do with how I feel about you. I would love you and take care of you like you were my own, whether it were official or not. If you had decided you didn't want me to adopt you, that still wouldn't change. I emotionally adopted you long ago. I just need to officially adopt you so you can stay on my health insurance, and so I will still have standing as your mother in case you get hurt or really sick, or otherwise require me to be able to act legally as your mother." Sharon squeezed his shoulders. "I don't blame you for feeling a little apprehensive about all of this. I think you'll feel better about it when it's all said and done, and you won't be dwelling over it anymore. I love you, and I will always be here for you, whether or not you're my son on paper."

"Love you, too," Rusty mumbled into Sharon's shoulder. The heat and the sound of running water from the shower and the love and comfort of Sharon's presence were making him drowsy. He watched Harper sleeping soundly on Sharon's other shoulder, without a care in the world. "She looks so sweet like this."

Sharon smiled down at the sleeping toddler in her arms. "Doesn't she? Hard to believe she's capable of throwing a full-scale tantrum."

"God, who knew giving her the red sippy cup instead of the blue one was such a big deal? She looks too innocent to be capable of her history of tantrums."

Sharon smirked. "I've thought the same thing about you when I've seen you sleeping."

"I have never thrown a tantrum, thank you."

Sharon raised an eyebrow. "You've been pretty close."

"Whatever. How much longer are you sitting in here?"

"Just a few more minutes. Why don't you go on back to bed?"

"Nah, I'll stay in here with you. Why did her cough get bad again? She was a little better before she went to bed last night."

"Coughing is always worse at night, when you've been lying down."

"Oh. It's kind of scary seeing her so sick."

Sharon kissed his forehead again. "Tell me about it. But this should be her last bad night. She'll still feel bad for a couple more days, but it shouldn't be like this."

A few minutes later, Sharon started to get up to go back to bed. "Ugh, I didn't think this through when I sat on the floor with her. She's too heavy for this."

"Here, I've got you." Rusty wrapped his arms around Sharon and helped her off of the floor.

"Thanks, honey. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Rusty kissed Harper and went back to bed.

Sharon started to get back in bed, but with Harper finally sleeping peacefully, she hated to lay her down again. She looked longingly at her bed, but Harper was so comfortable in her arms, so she got a couple of her bed pillows, went back to the living room, and sat on the couch. She propped her legs up on the ottoman she had purchased not long after Rusty's injuries had healed, which actually matched the couch, and she was able to get fairly comfortable while keeping Harper inclined against her. Harper was still coughing, but not nearly as badly as before. Sharon covered them both with a blanket and fell asleep pretty quickly. She didn't wake up again until the sun was coming up, and Rusty was shaking her shoulder.

"Hey, Sharon, I'll take Harp. Go back to bed."

"Thanks, sweetie," Sharon mumbled. She barely opened her eyes as she handed Harper to Rusty, draped the blanket over them, and stumbled to her room and into bed. She woke up again soon after 9:00 on Wednesday morning. Rusty and Harper were both still unconscious when she went to the living room. She straightened the blanket over them and pressed her hand to Harper's forehead, satisfied that her fever was going down. While waiting for the coffee to brew, Sharon sat beside Rusty and watched him and Harper sleep for a few minutes. Rusty's mouth was hanging open, and Harper's head was tucked neatly under his chin, with a handful of his t-shirt in her grasp. They had adored each other from the beginning, but Sharon never got tired of seeing them together like this.

It didn't take long for the smell of the coffee and the soft strokes of Sharon's fingers on his cheek to wake Rusty. "Timizzit?" Rusty mumbled.

"A few minutes after 9. Want me to take Harp?"

Rusty looked down at Harper, still passed out on his chest. "Nah. She probably won't sleep much longer, and I'll be ready to get up when she wakes up." He held his hand to Harper's forehead. "Her temperature's going down, isn't it?"

"Yes, I believe so. You're getting pretty good at this."

Rusty shrugged. "Well, I learned from the best."

Sharon smiled. "That, you did."

"I don't think I'll ever be as creepy as you are, though."

"You know, I'm beginning to take 'creepy' as a compliment." Sharon kissed Rusty's cheek and went to her desk to do some work and check in with her team. Once Rusty and Harper were awake, Sharon made breakfast and gave Harper her medicine. She and Rusty spent the day taking turns holding Harper. She seemed to be feeling a little better, but she was still sluggish and just wanted to be held.

After dinner, Sharon was face-timing with her team, so Rusty gave Harper a bath and put her to bed in Sharon's room. Sharon was finishing with her call when Rusty came back to the living room after lying down with Harper until she was asleep. "Are you guys any closer to solving your case?"

"A little bit. Mike and Andy are working through the night, but everyone else is going home for now. If they find something, I may need to go in late tonight, is that okay with you?"

"That's fine. Harper's easy to watch when she's sick."

Sharon closed her computer. "Thank you. I'm going to read for a little bit and go on to bed. I'm actually hoping for a middle-of-the-night phone call. I hope we can wrap this case up before tomorrow afternoon." She got up and kissed Rusty's cheek. "Good Night, honey. I love you."

"Love you."

As predicted, Sharon's phone rang at about 4:00 Thursday morning, and she quickly got dressed before waking Rusty. She went to his room and sat on his bed. "Wake up, Rusty."

"Whaaaa..." Rusty muttered.

"Hey, honey. I need to go to the station. Mike and Andy found a new lead, so everyone's going in. Do you just want to go get in my bed with Harp?"

"Mm hmm." Rusty made no move to get up.

"Come on, sweetheart." Sharon pulled Rusty up and led him to her room. "Call me when she wakes up, okay?" Rusty nodded. "Judge Richwood said he would be in court until about 4:00, so we're going to meet him in his chambers at 4:30. I'll come get you and Harp before 4:00, but I hope I'll be home before then."

"Sharon, that's dumb. I can just meet you there with Harp."

"No, honey. I want us to go as a family." Sharon tucked him in beside Harper and kissed both foreheads before leaving for work.

Harper was feeling a little better when she woke up Thursday morning, and she wasn't quite so clingy. After giving Harper an early lunch, Rusty dreaded bringing up the word 'nap.' She had taken her naps quite willingly since she'd been sick, but he didn't know whether she was feeling well enough to scream about it today. He wanted to have her asleep by noon in case she slept longer than usual, as she had done the last few days. Interrupting her nap would definitely leave her in a sour mood for the adoption that afternoon, so he wanted to give her time to sleep as much as she needed. Rusty changed Harper's diaper and sat with her in the recliner. "All right, Harp, do you want to take your nap in your bed or Mommy's bed?" He hoped that distracting her with a choice would keep her from losing her damn mind. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

"Mommy's bed," Harper mumbled after careful deliberation.

"Good call." Rusty covered Harper with a blanket and patted her back as he rocked her to sleep. Once he'd tucked her into Sharon's bed, he straightened up the condo a little bit and climbed in bed beside her to take a little nap, himself. When he woke up, Harper was coughing and tapping his face. Rusty sat up and pulled her into her lap. "Hey, sweet girl." He patted her back until the coughing stopped. "Is that better?" Harper nodded and lay drowsily on his shoulder. Her hair was sticking up, and nothing short of a bath would be able to tame it. "Harp. You've got some serious bed head. I'm going to have to give you a bath." Rusty held her for a few minutes to give her time to wake up. She'd slept for a little over three hours. He looked at his phone and saw a text from Sharon, saying that she would be home by 3:30. "Mommy will be home soon! Let's go get some medicine, and by the time you're all clean, Mommy will be almost home."

Rusty carried Harper to the kitchen and sat her on the counter to give her the medicine. He felt her forehead and reached for the thermometer, which was still on the counter from when he'd checked her temperature that morning. He knew Sharon would be asking about Harper's temperature the second she got home. He was shocked that she'd only asked about it twice today. "100.8. Not too bad." Rusty picked Harper up and put the juice back in the refrigerator.

"San!" Harper smiled and pointed at the refrigerator.

Finally seeing an opportunity to figure out what that meant, Rusty opened the refrigerator door again and peered inside. "What? Show me 'san.'"

Harper closed the door and pointed to a picture of Sharon, Rusty, and Harper on the refrigerator (a/n: before you all jump on me about stainless steel appliances not being magnetic, some of them actually are). There were several of Ricky, Emily, Rusty, and Harper, in various combinations, but Sharon was only in a couple of them, as she was usually the one taking the pictures. "San!"

Rusty studied the picture of the three of them that had been taken the Christmas before at Sharon's office Christmas party. There were no other discernible objects in the background of the picture, that Harper could identify, anyway. "Look, Harp. There's Mommy, Rusty, and Harper. What else?"

"San!" Harper pointed to Sharon, looking pleased with herself.

"No, Harp, that's Mommy." Harper looked at Rusty like he was insane, and understanding finally hit him. "Wait, Harp, are you saying _Sharon_?"

"San!" Harper gleefully pointed to Sharon again.

"No, Harp, call her Mommy!" Harper shook her head and gave him her 'are you kidding' look again. Rusty groaned. "Oh, no, you're doing this because I call her 'Sharon,' aren't you?" Harper's expression changed from 'are you kidding' to 'well, duh.' Rusty thought for a minute. He'd gotten to where he wanted to start calling Sharon 'Mom,' but he felt weird just outright doing it. He felt like he would have to explain why he'd suddenly changed his mind, but he didn't actually know why. Harper gave him the perfect opportunity. "Listen, Harp, what if I start calling her 'Mom?' Will you stop calling her 'Sharon?'" Harper just stared at him, and he didn't know whether she understood him or not. Rusty sighed. "Come on, let's get you in the bath. I know you're ready to get out of this wet diaper."

When Rusty got Harper out of the bath, he dried her off, put lotion on her, and got her into a clean diaper. Sharon had left the outfit she wanted her to wear on Harper's bed, but Rusty knew there was no point in putting it on her until they were walking out the door. She could make a mess in a heartbeat. Leaving Harper in just a diaper, Rusty carried her back to the kitchen to wait for Sharon and work on the 'Mommy' thing some more. The apprehension he'd been feeling about the adoption had slowly been turning to excitement as the day went on, and he couldn't wait to see Sharon. He stood in front of the refrigerator with Harper in his arms. This time, he pointed to a picture of all five of them that was taken at Harper's christening. He was pretty sure Eileen was the one who took the picture. "Look, Harp. There's Ricky, Emily, Rusty, Harper, and _Mommy_!" He pointed to each person as he said their names. "Now you try." He pointed at Ricky to start over.

"'icky, Emmy, 'ussy, Hoppy, and _san_!"

"Harp-ugh, damn it," Rusty muttered, when he knocked one of the pictures and its magnet off of the refrigerator. He knelt to pick it up.

"Dam-eeeee!" Harper exclaimed.

"No!" Rusty covered his face with his other hand. "Please, forget I said that. This is _not_ going to be 'rat-out-Rusty' day." After a few more minutes of identifying everyone in the pictures, Harper was still calling Sharon 'san.' Rusty hoped it would help if she heard him call Sharon 'Mom' in person. He was about to start on another picture when he heard Sharon's key in the door. " _Mommy's_ home! Want to go see _Mommy_?" Rusty took a deep breath and went to the door to meet Sharon. He gave her a hug before she was even all the way in the condo. "Hey, Mom. Did you guys finish your case?"

"Yes, we-" Sharon's eyes widened, and she gave Rusty a bewildered look. He'd called her 'Mom' so nonchalantly that it hadn't registered at first. She was trying to decide whether to comment on it when he interrupted her.

"I, um, figured out what 'san' means," Rusty said, sheepishly.

"You did? That has been driving me crazy! What is it?"

"Um, it's you. She's been calling you 'Sharon,' because that's what I call you."

"Oh, of course! I can't believe I didn't think of that. That's actually pretty common for children her age." Understanding hit her. "Oh, so..."

"Yeah. I thought if she heard me calling you 'Mom,' she'd start calling you 'Mommy' again. It's not just that, though. I've been thinking about it for a while, but I just didn't know how to start. You're my mom, and you have been for a long time."

Sharon's eyes filled with tears, and she pulled Rusty back for another hug. "I love you, sweetheart, no matter what you call me."

"I know. But it was past time."

Sharon kissed Harper's forehead. "Mmm, you smell so good! Thanks for giving her a bath. How has she been today? She feels like her temperature has gone down a little bit."

"I think she's feeling a little better. She took a three-hour nap. Her temperature was 100.8 when she got up just a little while ago."

An exasperated "ahem" came from the hall behind Sharon. She'd forgotten all about the surprise she'd just picked up at the airport. She moved over to let the person not-so-patiently waiting in the hall inside.

"Who- _Gran_!" Rusty shoved Harper into Sharon's arms and practically jumped into Eileen's. "You said you couldn't come!"

"Now, what kind of surprise would this have been if I had told you I was coming?" Eileen stepped back and looked Rusty over. "My goodness, you've-"

"Do _not_ finish that sentence with _grown_." As much as he loved being taller, the incessant comments about it drove him crazy.

"Okay, I won't...But you have."

"Gan!" Harper exclaimed, not to be outdone. Eileen happily took Harper from Sharon when she reached for her.

"Hi, baby girl! Speaking of growing! When did you get so big?"

"I sick, gan," Harper informed her pitifully.

"I heard, baby, but I know Mommy and Rusty have taken good care of you."

Sharon looked around the condo. "Oh, Rusty, thanks so much for cleaning up. Since we were able to close the case, everyone's coming here after the ceremony. I've already bought beer and wine, and I'm just going to order a few pizzas, since I didn't have time to do anything. I didn't even know if we would finish the case so everyone could come." Sharon kicked her shoes off and sank into the couch. "I'm exhausted."

"I bet." Rusty sat beside her, and Eileen sat on her other side with Harper in her lap. She looked at Sharon and lightly touched her hair. "I like your hair curled like this. You've been wearing it like this a lot recently."

Sharon looked nervous. "What? No, I haven't."

"Yes, you have. Your sister has noticed, too." Between Sharon's mom, siblings, and children, Harper was a bit of a FaceTime celebrity. Sharon had visibly seen more of her family recently, via FaceTime, than she had in years. Eileen narrowed her eyes and looked at Sharon suspiciously. "You've been wearing more makeup than usual, too. Are you-"

"Mama's gotta boyfrieeeend," Rusty said in a sing-song voice.

" _Rusty_! I do not!"

"Okay, Mom. Going out to dinner, movies, Dodger games, and that charity ball thing isn't 'dating.' You're right," Rusty said, patronizingly.

"You'll tell me about this later, right?" Eileen said, just loudly enough for Sharon to hear.

"Are you kidding? I can't wait. I haven't had time to talk to you when she hasn't been nearby."

"I am _right_ _here_. And I do _not_ have a boyfriend."

"If you say so," Rusty and Eileen said in unison.

Sharon rolled her eyes. "You two are infuriating, do you know that?"

"Yes," they responded, again at the same time.

Eileen gave Rusty a shrewd look. "Like I can't tell when she's trying to impress a man."

"I know, right?"

" _Stop_ it," Sharon said, indignantly.

They had been talking for about ten minutes when Harper struggled to get down, so Eileen put her on the floor and turned back to their conversation. "Um, what's she doing?" Rusty nodded toward Harper, who was crouched down on the other side of the recliner. He could only see the top of her head.

"Wha-hmm, I have a theory." Harper slowly emerged from the other side of the chair a couple of minutes later and started for her toys. Sharon held her hands out to her. "Come here, Harp. I have a feeling you need a diaper change."

"No!"

" _Yes_." Sharon started to get up, but Rusty stopped her.

"I'll change her." Harper was running down the hall by this point, so Rusty chased her down and took her to the nursery to change her diaper. Once she was in his arms, the foul smell that met his nose let him know that Sharon was right. "How did you know what she was doing?" Rusty handed Harper back to Eileen before sitting back down on the couch.

"A lot of toddlers start hiding to poop when they get to a certain stage," Sharon answered. "It's actually a sign that they'll be ready to potty train soon."

"But you're not, like, doing that any time soon, are you?" Sharon hadn't seemed to be in any hurry, and that was fine with Rusty. He'd much rather change diapers than have to be on constant alert for a toddler's potty needs. They had recently started asking Harper if she was wet or dirty and sitting her on the toilet if she had been dry for a while to help her get the idea, but they weren't by any means potty training her yet, and they hadn't done any of that at all since she'd been sick.

"No. It would be possible to do it now, but it would be a lot harder than it has to be. I've never understood why parents think it's a race. I'm not going to even think about it until she's two and a half, unless she's really interested before then. I do want to be started a couple of months before she turns three, but I'm going to try to wait until she wants to do it. I learned that the hard way with Emily. The first time I tried to potty train her, it was a disaster, and I was the one being trained, not her. But, once I backed off and waited for her to tell me she wanted to do it, she basically trained herself. Ricky was a nightmare, though. I thought I was going to send him to college in diapers."

Rusty laughed. "Somehow, that doesn't surprise me."

Sharon looked at her watch. "Okay, Harp, let's go get you dressed. It's almost time to go."

When they reached Judge Richwood's chambers, Sharon paused for a moment before going inside. She handed Harper to her mom and wrapped her arms around Rusty. "I love you, sweetheart. You have no idea what a gift you are to me. I love being your mom."

"I love you, too. Thank you for showing me what it's like to have a real mom."

They pulled away from each other when they heard the elevator ding. The rest of the team had arrived, and Mrs. Tao was with Mike. As everyone greeted each other, Harper looked from one person to the other, not sure who to reach for first. She settled on Cathy, who was standing the closest to her. "Oh, hi, Harper!" Cathy took her from Eileen when she realized Harper was reaching for her.

"I sick." Harper sighed dramatically and lay on Cathy's shoulder.

"I can tell, sweetheart." Cathy held her hand to Harper's forehead. "Mike told me you were sick, but you seem to be getting better."

"She is. She had a pretty bad case of Croup, but she's feeling a lot better now," Sharon clarified. "Come, here, Harp, it's time to go inside."

Once everyone was seated, Judge Richwood gave a brief overview of the adoption process and what it meant. Rusty signed his form first, then took Harper from Sharon so she could sign both of her forms, one for each child. Judge Richwood then pronounced them 'family,' and Sharon and Rusty stood and hugged each other yet again, with Harper squeezed in the middle. "I love you, Mom," Rusty murmured. He could feel Sharon's tears dripping onto his cheek, which made him tear up a little, too. She'd been teary-eyed since Judge Richwood had begun speaking, and she had sounded choked up when she spoke at one time, but had composed herself. Her eyes still held unshed tears, though. When they made their way back to the team, there were handshakes and hugs for Rusty, and hugs and kisses on the cheek for Sharon and Harper amidst the sea of 'congratulations.'

When they got back to the condo, Sharon, Rusty, and Eileen set out the beverages and cleaned up a little bit more before everyone else arrived. Eileen was standing in front of the refrigerator, holding Harper as she proudly identified everyone in the pictures. Eileen knocked one of the pictures off, just like Rusty had done earlier that afternoon. "Dam-eeeee!" Harper exclaimed.

"Ha-arp," Rusty groaned, covering his face.

"What-have you been saying bad words in front of her, young man?" Sharon gave Rusty a stern look, but she couldn't hold it long before her face broke into a smile.

"Who, me? Never."

"Uh-huh."

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Sharon opened the door for their guests, and Provenza came in first, with 'it's a boy' and 'it's a girl' balloons.

"Oh, Lieutenant, you shouldn't have," Sharon said, looking amused.

"At least they're somewhat appropriate this time," Andy muttered.

"That's him," Rusty hissed to Eileen, nodding at Andy.

"Hmm," Eileen nodded her approval. "Well, I can definitely see the motivation for trying to impress him."

"Oh, dear god. Come on, Gran, you're on my side."

A couple of hours later, Sharon refilled her wine and paused to look around the room. Harper had been passed lovingly from person to person the whole time, and promptly told the owner of each new pair of arms, "I sick." Of course, this had been followed with the sympathy she expected and a hand or kiss to her forehead, even if it was the third or fourth time the person holding her had been informed of her malady. Eileen was talking to Andy. Rusty had undoubtedly pointed him out to her. She was pulled from her thoughts when Mike approached her with Harper, who was lying on his shoulder.

"Sharon, can Harper have more medicine, now? She feels like her fever's gone up a little bit."

Sharon looked at the clock on the stove. It was 7:30. "Yes. I was trying to wait until I put her to bed, but it's close enough. Want me to take her?"

"No, she's fine. She just seemed to be feeling bad again."

Sharon gave Harper her medicine and a sippy cup of watered-down juice, then kissed her forehead. Mike was right, she did feel warmer now. "I love you, sweet girl."

"'ove 'ou, Mommy."

A little while later, after most of the team had said a final 'congratulations' and left, Sharon was talking to Eileen and Cathy when she felt little arms wrap around her legs and a warm forehead against her knee. She leaned down and picked up Harper. "I think this little one is ready to go night-night."

"We need to go, anyway," Cathy said. "Night-night, Harper!"

"Nigh-nigh," Harper murmured, with her face buried in Sharon's neck.

Once everyone was gone, Eileen and Rusty each kissed Harper goodnight.

"All right, baby girl, let's go read in your room, and then I'll put you in Mommy's bed. Rusty, will you please turn her humidifier on in my room?" Rusty nodded and followed Sharon down the hall. He returned to the living room a minute later, baby monitor in hand, and collapsed on the couch against Eileen.

"It's been a big day, huh?" Eileen commented. She put her arm around Rusty and kissed his forehead. He nodded and turned up the volume on the monitor. Sharon was in the middle of _Goodnight_ _Moon_. Rusty smiled when she neared the end, and he and Eileen recited the last line with her. " _Goodnight stars, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere._ "

Rusty lay on Eileen's shoulder as Sharon started singing _Jesus Loves Me._ She usually only sang the first verse before putting Harper in bed, but, every now and then, she kept going. Rusty wasn't surprised that tonight was one of the nights when she sang every verse. He teared up a little during the third verse, as he'd found new meaning in it tonight. _Wanting as a friend to give, light and love to all who live._ Just like Sharon.

"Night-night, baby girl," he heard Sharon croon through the monitor.

"Nigh-nigh, Mommy."

 ** _Thanks so much for the amazing feedback! Don't worry, I wasn't going to forget about the "San" storyline. That was actually the premise of this story. I think it's hilarious when toddlers call their parents by their first names because they've heard others do it, and I thought that would be a sweet way for Rusty to be convinced to start calling Sharon 'Mom.' I just had to find a baby. And I wasn't about to add yet another 'Sharon is pregnant' fic to the mix. This was supposed to be just a few fluffy chapters of Sharon and Rusty taking care of a baby, ending with the adoption. I intended for it to be five or six chapters, max, but all of you encouraged me to keep going. Harper's aunt wasn't supposed to bother them at all, but I had to add something when all of your feedback made me want to keep going. Thanks so much for the favorites, follows, and reviews! This was a fun story to write._**


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